Department for Transport

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled, Road to Zero, published  by his Department in July 2018, what steps is he taking to ensure the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet the 2040 emissions target.

Michael Ellis: Our vision is to have one of the best electric vehicle infrastructure networks in the world. This means a network for current and prospective electric vehicle drivers that is affordable, reliable, accessible and secure. The Road to Zero strategy includes new commitments to massively expand electric and low emission vehicle infrastructure across the country. Government funding and leadership, alongside private sector investment has supported the installation of more than 17,000 public chargepoints. This includes over 1,700 rapid chargepoints - one of the largest networks in Europe. Our grant schemes and our £400m public-private Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle chargepoints installed across the UK. We will consult on proposals for chargepoints to be installed with all newly built homes in England, where appropriate. Highways England has a commitment of £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every 20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network by 2020.

Electric Vehicles

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will allocate additional funding to (a) encourage and (b) support people to purchase electric vehicles.

Michael Ellis: We are investing nearly £1.5bn‎ between April 2015 and March 2021, with grants available for battery electric and hydrogen vehicles, alongside schemes to support charge point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. Along with other measures in the Government’s Road to Zero strategy, this adds up to one of the most comprehensive support packages in the world for the transition to zero emission vehicles. As part of the forthcoming spending review Government will be laying out funding and other measures for future years across all departments.

Railways: Electrification

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the target date to fully electrify the UK rail network is.

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to fully electrify the UK rail network.

Andrew Jones: The Rail Network enhancements pipeline (RNEP) makes clear that all rail enhancements must be led by the needs that they are fulfilling rather than the methods by which they propose to fulfil them. We do not, therefore, expect proposals for new enhancements to begin with a pre-defined solution or input, such as electrification, but rather to set out the case for making an intervention to support a desired outcome.

Cycling and Walking: Infrastructure

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans in delivering their goals.

Michael Ellis: The Department is currently piloting a programme of support to assist 46 local authorities with the development of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). These plans are still under development. LCWIPs help local authorities think strategically about their cycling and walking networks and prioritise a pipeline of projects for future investment. The Department intends to formally evaluate the support offered later in the year.

Electric Scooters

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the increase in use of electric scooters on roads.

Andrew Jones: In the UK, powered transporters, also known as micromobility devices, are treated like any other motor vehicle under the Road Traffic Act. This includes e-scooters, and means they are subject to laws requiring them to be built and used safely, including requirements for users to have insurance, driving licences, number plates, and helmets. It is therefore, illegal to use a powered transporter on a public road without it complying with these legal requirements. At present, it will be difficult for electric scooters to meet these requirements. It is also illegal to use a powered transporter in spaces which are set aside for use by pedestrians, cyclists, and horse-riders. This includes on the pavement and in cycle lanes. We are currently exploring how new technologies, such as e-scooters, could help the UK benefit from changes in how people, goods and services move around and possible barriers to securing those benefits. The Future of Mobility Urban Strategy, published on 19 March 2019 includes a Regulatory Review to address the challenges of ensuring our transport infrastructure and regulation are fit for the future.

Motorways: Accidents

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) traffic incidents and (b) fatal traffic incidents there have been on (i) traditional motorways, (ii) motorways running a Smart Motorway Scheme, and (iii) motorways with an all-lane running scheme in the last 12 months.

Michael Ellis: In 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 4,778 reported road accidents involving personal injury on motorways in Great Britain, of which 77 were fatal accidents. These figures can be found in the published Department for Transport statistics table RAS10001: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/755701/ras10001.ods. Non-injury accidents are not recorded in these statistics. The statistics for motorways are not broken down further for smart motorways or smart motorways with all-lane running.

Public Transport

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to public transport for people who have difficulty climbing stairs.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government is committed to ensuring that disabled people and passengers with reduced mobility have the same access to transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else. In July 2018, the Department for Transport launched the Inclusive Transport Strategy which includes a commitment to extend a programme of accessibility improvements at rail stations (known as Access for All) with an additional £300m of funding for the 2019-2024 period. Access for All funding has led to new accessible, step-free routes at over 200 stations. This new funding will allow for similar improvements to be made at a further 73 stations. Additionally, by 1st January 2020, all rolling stock in passenger service must comply with modern accessibility standards. These standards include vehicle access and egress, including the use of manual boarding ramps. In the case of buses, the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations have revolutionised bus travel for disabled passengers, with around 97% of buses in Great Britain now incorporating a designated space and boarding facilities for wheelchair users, priority seating and other features to help disabled people board, alight and travel in comfort and safety. The Government continues to work with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to ensure that enforcement action targets non-compliance effectively and that appropriate action is taken where it is identified.

Crossrail 2 Line

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set out a timetable for a decision on the Crossrail 2 scheme’s future following TfL's  submission of a revised Strategic Outline Business Case for Crossrail 2 taking in the recommendations of the Independent Affordability Review.

Andrew Jones: The government is considering the recommendations of the Independent Affordability Review of Crossrail 2, and will consider the business case for the project and next steps at the Spending Review.

Crossrail 2 Line

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to review the safeguarding directions for Crossrail 2.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport’s current position is to not update safeguarding directions for the proposed Crossrail 2 route before Government agrees to a route and the findings of the Crossrail 2 Independent Affordability Review are reflected. The Department keeps the need for safeguarding under constant review to ensure that the proposed route of Crossrail 2 can be protected in a cost-effective manner. The Department will consider the business case for Crossrail 2 and next steps at the Spending Review.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Sales

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the regulation of the sale of drones.

Michael Ellis: As set out in the Government’s recent drone consultation response on 7 January 2019, my Department is working with the Home Office and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy on product standards for drones. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has also published new product standards for drones which will become fully applicable by 2022. These include a mandatory requirement for drones to be fitted with geo-awareness software and being remotely identifiable before being placed on the market.At an international level, the International Organization for Standardization is currently developing standards for drone safety and operation in which the British Standards Institution (BSI) committee members represent the UK. It is vital that we balance maintaining the UK’s world-leading position in aviation safety and security with supporting the development of this emerging industry.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Whirlpool Corporation: Tumble Dryers

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Whirlpool on its online system for the reporting by consumers of tumble dryers which require modification for reasons of safety; and what his understanding is of the timescales involved for consumers once they have made such a report.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Office for Product Safety and Standards has been in regular dialogue with Whirlpool regarding its programme of outreach to consumers. It has been clear with Whirlpool that it expects them to ensure consumers have easy ways of reporting effected dryers and to prioritise their actions to respond to consumers and ensure public safety is maintained.

Mass Media: Overtime

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of unpaid overtime in the TV, film and radio production industries; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure companies in those industries pay their employees for overtime worked.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government is committed to ensuring fair remuneration for workers across the economy. In April 2019, the National Living Wage rate was increased to £8.21 per hour, a rise of 4.9 percent. Over 1.8 million workers benefitted directly from this increase. Employers in all industries are required by law to ensure that all workers due the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (NMW) receive it, including for overtime. We take tough action against the minority of employers who underpay the NMW. Since 2015, the Government has doubled HMRC’s enforcement and compliance to £27.4m for 2019/20 Anyone who feels they are being underpaid the NMW should contact Acas (www.acas.org.uk, 0300 123 1100) for free impartial advice or make a complaint directly to HMRC through their online form. Employers and employees are free to negotiate terms and conditions that go beyond the requirements set out in legislation. It is in employers’ interests to ensure that their reward packages are competitive, in order to retain and develop the staff who are fundamental to their success.

Research: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with (a) Ofcom, (b) Ofwat and (c) Ofgem on incentives for innovation and research and development in their sectors and how that relates to the 2.4 per cent GDP spend on R&D target.

Chris Skidmore: In October 2018 we launched a consultation to build our understanding of whether there are opportunities to further encourage new innovative methods and technologies in the utilities sectors to improve outcomes for consumers. This sought views on the barriers to innovation in the utilities sectors, and how we could improve the regulatory framework to further encourage innovation. We are analysing the responses to this consultation and plan to publish a response in due course. In June 2019 we announced measures in our White Paper on Regulation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to support regulators to enable innovation in their sectors, as part of our approach to increasing R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. We have invested in projects by both Ofcom and Ofgem to support innovation through the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund.

Corporation Tax

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies previously registered as non-resident for corporation tax purposes in countries other than Luxembourg provided an address in Luxembourg to the Land Registry in May 2019.

Kelly Tolhurst: HM Land Registry do not hold information about a company’s tax status as this is not required for land registration purposes.

Pregnancy: Redundancy

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has any plans to increase legal protections from redundancy for pregnant employees, and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: We published a consultation document containing proposals to extend existing protections against redundancy for pregnant women and new parents. The consultation closed on 5th April 2019.We plan to publish the Government Response in due course.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Government's diplomatic representations to the Government of Saudi Arabia on trends in the number of planned executions in that country in each of the last five years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We regularly raise our views on the use of the death penalty with the Saudi authorities. We make clear that the British Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, including Saudi Arabia, especially for crimes other than the most serious and for juveniles. This is in line with the minimum standards set out in the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty of 2008 and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights.

Iran: Human Rights

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart on the protection of (a) the LGBT community and (b) religious minorities in Iran.

Dr Andrew Murrison: ​We regularly raise the treatment of persecuted and vulnerable groups with the Iranian authorities at all levels. While no progress has been made on LGBT rights under Iranian law so far, we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record on all human rights issues, and freedom of religion and belief.

Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Brazilian counterpart on the release from detention of former Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a result of the publication of documents revealing a plot to jail Mr da Silva to prevent him from standing in the 2018 presidential election.

Sir Alan Duncan: Brazil has a robust, transparent and independent justice system that is rightly tackling corruption and wider issues.

Council of Europe: Finance

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will oppose any proposal at the Council of Europe to decrease the budget for youth activities.

Dr Andrew Murrison: No decision has been taken to decrease the budget of the Council of Europe's (CoE) youth department. The suggestion to decouple the youth budget from the main budget is just one option proposed to manage the CoE's budget deficit following Russia's non-payment of its contributions and as part of wider reforms and efficiency savings. The UK's priority remains to protect the core functions of the CoE, including the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention system. The UK continues to urge Russia to abide by its freely entered into and legally binding obligation to pay outstanding contributions in full.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with international partners on the merits of creating and upholding no-fly zones over Idlib, Syria.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are deeply concerned by the civilian deaths caused by airstrikes by the Syrian regime and Russia in Idlib, however we do not consider imposition of a no-fly zone over Idlib to be a realistic option. We have urgently called on the regime and Russia to end their current offensive in Idlib and to respect the ceasefire agreed last year.

EU Countries: Political Parties

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether there are political parties within the EU with which it is the UK Government's policy not to engage with.

Sir Alan Duncan: We decide whether to engage with individual political parties in Europe on a case-by-case basis. We regularly review our approach.

Uganda: Human Rights

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Ugandan Ambassador to the UK on press freedom and civil liberties in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: Government officials have discussed the upcoming media freedom conference, and its priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Ugandan High Commission in London. The Ugandan Foreign Minister is also confirmed to attend the conference. Our High Commission in Kampala, alongside the EU and other missions, released a statement on 3 May calling on the Ugandan Government to guarantee freedom of speech and expression, and freedom of assembly as enshrined in the Ugandan Constitution. Following the statement, British High Commission staff highlighted our concerns during the EU Heads of Mission meeting with President Museveni in May. The UK supports freedom of expression as a fundamental human right alongside freedom of the media and we continue regularly to raise any concerns around civic and political issues directly with the Ugandan government.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the written statement of 23 May 2018, HCWS716, on Saudi Arabia, whether the information, advice and assistance provided by his Department to Saudi Arabia classifies the UK as a party to the conflict in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The former Foreign Secretary made clear in the written statement HCWS716 that the UK is not a member of the Saudi-led coalition. Our position is unchanged. Our assistance is limited to addressing the specific threats faced by the Saudis. We are providing information, advice and training to help Saudi Arabia respond to these threats.​

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the escalation of tensions in the Gulf does not damage the Stockholm peace process in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK remains in close coordination with international partners to find diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions. Representatives of the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates met on 22 June in London, expressing their concern over escalating tensions in the region and the dangers posed by Iranian de-stabilising activity. Quad members reiterated their support for UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and the peace process.

Gulf of Oman: Tankers

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support a diplomatic solution to potential military action in the Gulf region following the recent attacks on oil tankers in that region.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK remains in close co-ordination with international partners to find diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions, and specifically advising Iran – using our diplomatic relationship – that escalation is not in their interest.On 22-23 June, I met with senior Government representatives in Tehran. I held open, frank and constructive conversations with the Iranian authorities. I was clear about the UK’s long-held concerns over Iran’s activities, as well as the UK’s determination to maintain the nuclear deal which is in our shared security interests.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government's policy is on the maintenance of Iran Nuclear Deal.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are clear that maintaining this deal is critical to our national security interests; the British Government is working with our European partners to ensure it is upheld as long as Iran continues to meet its nuclear commitments in full. We are urging Iran not to take escalatory steps and to continue to meet its commitments under the deal. While Iran is in compliance, we remain fully committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a key achievement of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture, which is in our shared security interests.

Kashmir: Hydroelectric Power

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric project on the population of (a) the city of Muzaffarabad and (b) Pakistani Administrated Kashmir.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not carried out an assessment of the Chinese-built Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. As with any large infrastructure project, the concerns of the local population should be considered carefully and in accordance with local legal processes.

India: Pakistan

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in (a) India and (b) Pakistan on compliance with the Indus Waters Treaty.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We continue to encourage India and Pakistan to work together in support of regional stability. The long-standing Indus Waters Treaty is an important part of this. It has continued to function well, including at times of tension, with India and Pakistan working closely with the World Bank. ​

Department for Exiting the European Union

Local Government: Elections

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with which EU member states the UK has concluded a reciprocal agreement on the right of each other's citizens to (a) vote and (b) stand as candidates in local elections after the UK leaves the EU; and with which EU member states are discussions ongoing.

Mr Robin Walker: The UK has approached all EU Member States to offer bilateral agreements which protect the right to vote and stand in local elections for UK Nationals in the EU, and EU citizens in the UK after exit day.We have reached agreements with Spain, Portugal and Luxembourg to secure the right for UK nationals in EU member states and EU citizens in the UK to vote and stand as candidates in local elections. This is a positive step and we hope this will encourage similar agreements with other Member States.

Department of Health and Social Care

Smoking: Health Education

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to include the vaping industry in the annual Stoptober campaign; and if he will make a statement.

Seema Kennedy: Public Health England (PHE) is directed under the Tobacco Control Plan for England to include within quit smoking campaigns messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to continue to provide smokers and the public with clear, evidence based and accurate information on the relative harm of nicotine, e-cigarettes, other nicotine delivery systems and smoked tobacco, to enable informed decision-making.PHE has worked with the Independent British Vape Trade Association and its members to reassure smokers about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to encourage smokers to switch.

Smoking: Health Education

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the merits of working with representatives of the vaping industry to help spread the Public Health England findings that e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than traditional cigarettes; and if he will make a statement.

Seema Kennedy: Public Health England (PHE) is directed under the Tobacco Control Plan for England to include within quit smoking campaigns messages about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to continue to provide smokers and the public with clear, evidence based and accurate information on the relative harm of nicotine, e-cigarettes, other nicotine delivery systems and smoked tobacco, to enable informed decision-making.PHE has worked with the Independent British Vape Trade Association and its members to reassure smokers about the relative safety of e-cigarettes and to encourage smokers to switch. This has broadened PHE’s reach to the audience of smokers.

Streptococcus

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2019 to Question 230615, and with reference to evidence demonstrating a reduction in rates of Group B Streptococcus infection in Northern Ireland since mandatory reporting of confirmed cases in babies was introduced there in March 2013, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making Group B Streptococcus a notifiable disease.

Seema Kennedy: Statutory notification of infectious diseases provides a means to alert public health officials to the occurrence of suspected or confirmed case of a given disease to direct public health action to prevent infection in others. These regulations, standards and guidance can be viewed at the following links:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/659/contents/madehttps://www.gov.uk/guidance/notifiable-diseases-and-causative-organisms-how-to-reportThe majority of infant Group B Streptococcus cases occur sporadically rather than through spread between individuals. As such, there are no specific public health actions recommended at present following the identification of a single case. If new evidence emerges to suggest actions should be initiated, the addition of Group B Streptococcus to the schedule of notifiable diseases will be reviewed.

Dental Health

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent tooth decay in (a) children and (b) adults.

Seema Kennedy: In England, local authorities have the lead responsibility for improving the oral health of children and adults in their local area. Further information is available at the following link:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/3094/pdfs/uksi_20123094_en.pdfImproving the oral health of children is a priority for Public Health England (PHE). PHE has established a Child Oral Health Improvement Programme Board, which brings together key stakeholder organisations. The board has a shared ambition that every child grows up free of tooth decay as part of getting the best start in life.PHE established an Adult Oral Health Oversight Group, which brings together a wide range of stakeholders that have policies or areas of interest to improve the oral health of adults.The Department is testing a new prevention focussed National Health Service dental contract which includes preventive advice and treatment based on ‘Delivering better oral health’, an evidence-based toolkit for prevention. More information about the dental contract reform programme can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dental-contract-reform-prototypes

Breast Cancer: Diagnosis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information he holds on the timescale for licensing the pill to identify breast cancer.

Seema Kennedy: In order for a human medicinal product to be granted a marketing authorisation, legislation requires robust data to be generated to demonstrate satisfactory quality, safety and efficacy of the proposed medicinal product and show that the benefit to risk balance is positive in the intended patient group.Studies to evaluate the toxicity profile of a medicine using in vitro or animal models are generally performed, prior to initial safety studies (Phase I) in human volunteers. Further clinical trials (Phase II and III) are then typically performed to establish safety and efficacy in patients, prior to the submission of a marketing authorisation application.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for the regulation of medicines in the United Kingdom. At this time, the MHRA is not aware of any clinical trials having been planned or conducted on a product that is for oral administration to enable imaging or identification of breast cancer. Therefore, at present, it cannot provide a timeline for the licensing of such a medicine.

Cancer: Vitamin D

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has discussed the potential link between consumption of vitamin D supplements and reduced risk of developing cancer with (a) the Royal College of Nursing and (b) the General Medical Council.

Seema Kennedy: No such discussions have taken place.

Headaches: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the NHS has to introduce new drugs to tackle migraines in the next six months.

Seema Kennedy: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that provides guidance on the prevention and treatment of ill health and the promotion of good health and social care. Through its technology appraisal programme, NICE makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether selected drugs and other treatments represent an effective use of NHS resources. NHS commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended through NICE’s technology appraisal programme. NICE is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on two drugs for the prevention of migraines; erenumab and fremanuzumab. The expected date of NICE’s final guidance is currently to be confirmed. In the absence of positive guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund this treatment based on an assessment of the available evidence.

NHS: Finance

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to table 4 on page 29 of the Health Foundation's report of 18 June 2019, Investing in the NHS Long Term Plan, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the estimate that the NHS will need an additional £8 billion of investment by 2023-24 to meet the objectives in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Stephen Hammond: The National Health Service budget will increase by £33.9 billion in cash terms by 2023/24 – reflecting that the NHS is this Government’s top spending priority. The NHS Long Term Plan is fully costed and has been developed within the spending settlement agreed with the NHS. It sets out how the increased spending, together with stretching but achievable ambition on efficiency, should ensure the NHS can continue to deliver the world-class service we want. Future budgets outside the NHS England resource settlement, including those for public health, capital and workforce education and training will be set out at the forthcoming Spending Review.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients whose prescription for a cannabis-based medical product is blocked by an NHS trust can appeal that decision.

Seema Kennedy: In line with routine clinical practice patients wishing to seek a second opinion will be supported to do so. In the first instance clinicians should refer patients for a second opinion using their established protocols. If it is not possible to obtain a second or further opinion using established protocols then National Health Service trusts are instructed to contact their NHS England Regional Medical Director who will be able to offer further advice around a referral route. The NHS England Regional Medical Directors will support NHS trusts in identifying a suitable NHS specialist for a second opinion. Processes may differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS England, (b) drug manufacturers and (c) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on funding for licensed cannabis-based products.

Seema Kennedy: The Department is in regular contact with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England colleagues about a range of issues and has not met with drug manufacturers on funding of licensed cannabis-based products.Sativex is currently the only licensed cannabis-based product available in the United Kingdom. NICE considered the clinical and cost effectiveness of Sativex in the development of its clinical guideline on the management of multiple sclerosis published in 2014. NICE was not able to recommend Sativex as a cost-effective use of NHS resources for the treatment of spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis. Sativex is not therefore routinely funded by the NHS in England for use in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, although clinicians are able to make a request for exceptional funding for individual patients who they think may benefit from treatment.NICE has been asked to develop clinical guidelines on cannabis-based products for medicinal use and is expected to look at the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments, including Sativex, as part of this work. This is expected to be published by October 2019.

Asthma: Prescriptions

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of asthma sufferers that are unable to access medication as a result of the cost of prescription charges.

Seema Kennedy: The Department has made no estimate. Extensive arrangements are already in place to help people access National Health Service prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions for which someone with asthma may qualify.To support those with the greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption, the cost of the prescription pre-payment certificates has been frozen for another year. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Hospitals: Parking

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of abolishing parking fees for staff at NHS hospitals.

Stephen Hammond: The level and appropriateness of car parking charges at National Health Service sites for staff is the responsibility of the local NHS trust. We have published the NHS Car Parking Principles which clearly state that concessions should be offered to groups who most need help, such as staff who cannot travel by public transport due to their shift pattern.However, given it is the responsibility of the local NHS trust, the Department has no jurisdiction to reduce or eliminate hospital car parking charges for nurses, doctors and essential healthcare workers.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many licences have been issued for the prescription of medicinal cannabis.

Seema Kennedy: The law stipulates that any doctor on the General Medical Council’s Specialist Register can prescribe cannabis-based products for medicinal use. No licences are required to prescribe.

NHS: Renewable Energy

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) NHS Trusts and (b) other public sector bodies have been enabled to receive 100 per cent renewable energy through Crown Commercial Services.

Stephen Hammond: National Health Service organisations make local decisions on how they contract for their energy supplies, including renewable energy through Crown Commercial Services or other suppliers. Data on which suppliers are used is not collected centrally.

National Cancer Screening Programmes in England Review

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Sir Mike Richards’ review of cancer screening programmes, whether the findings from that review will be incorporated into proposals on tackling workforce shortages for breast imaging and diagnostic workforce and included in the final NHS People Plan.

Seema Kennedy: The National Health Service currently has a record number of specialist cancer staff and has committed to recruit an additional 1,500 staff across seven priority cancer specialisms by 2021.The NHS interim People Plan was published on 3 June 2019. It acknowledges that further action must be taken to grow and recruit a world class cancer workforce to the NHS, and sets out a shared vision and plan of action to put NHS people at the heart of NHS policy and delivery.In advance of publishing the final People Plan, soon after the conclusion of the 2019 Spending Review, the NHS will establish a national programme board to address geographical and specialty shortages in medicine, which will include the cancer workforce.An independent review of cancer services led by Sir Mike Richards will report in summer 2019, NHS England and NHS Improvement will carefully consider any recommendations from this Review in the context of the NHS People Plan.

East London NHS Foundation Trust: Crown Commercial Service

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what lessons for residential property can be learned from the relationship between Crown Commercial Services and the East London NHS Foundation Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: East London NHS Foundation Trust reports that it has not used Crown Commercial Services for any procurement services in relation to residential property.

Doctors: Training

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that an adequate number of doctors are trained to meet future needs.

Stephen Hammond: The interim NHS People Plan sets out the action we will take now and over the long term to meet the challenges of supply, reform, culture and leadership, and changes in demand for health care.The Government has already committed to having 5,000 additional doctors in general practice, and to funding for universities to offer an extra 1,500 undergraduate medical school places. The first 630 places were taken up in September 2018 and the remaining additional places will have been made available by 2020/21. By 2020, five new medical schools will have opened in England to help deliver the expansion.

Tinnitus: Research

Suella Braverman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has committed to research into Tinnitus.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including tinnitus. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link:https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/NIHR support for tinnitus research was over £1.4 million over the last five years. This included funding for research projects, and funding for The NIHR is managed infrastructure to support tinnitus research. For example, The NIHR is managed infrastructure is supporting a proof-of-concept trial using targeted acoustic stimulation to treat tinnitus and a feasibility study using eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as a treatment for tinnitus.

Lung Cancer: Air Pollution

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has identified a link between air pollution and lung cancer in non-smoking persons.

Seema Kennedy: The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified outdoor air pollution and particulate matter in outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans. This can be viewed at the following link:https://monographs.iarc.fr/iarc-monographs-on-the-evaluation-of-carcinogenic-risks-to-humans-7/Estimates in a recent paper on lung cancer in non-smoking people in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine co-authored by Public Health England show that nearly 6,000 never-smokers die of lung cancer in United Kingdom every year and that approximately 8% of these deaths may be attributable to outdoor air pollution. This can be viewed at the following link:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-018-0029-6

Doctors: Recruitment

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings on recruitment of the Royal College of Physicians annual census Focus on physicians: 2017–18 census (UK consultants and higher specialty trainees).

Stephen Hammond: The Royal College of Physicians’ report ‘Focus on physicians: census of consultant physicians and higher specialty trainees 2017-18’ is a valuable source of information for medical workforce planning in England. The NHS Long Term Plan and the subsequent interim NHS People Plan set out the action we will take now and over the long term to meet the challenges of supply, reform, culture and leadership. They were developed on the basis of the advice and experience of stakeholders including the Royal College of Physicians. Since the report was published in June 2018 action has been taken to address some of the findings of the report.The Government has already committed to funding for universities to offer an extra 1,500 undergraduate medical school places opening five new medical schools across England in the process. The interim NHS People Plan sets out that we will review what further expansion in undergraduate medical places will be needed, in light of future plans made locally by sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems.The NHS Long Term Plan included the commitment to exploring the potential to expand the Medical Training Initiative so that more medical trainees from developed and developing countries can spend time working and learning in the National Health Service. The Plan also commits to a national programme board, which will be established to address geographic and specialty shortages in doctors, including developing new staffing models for rural and coastal hospitals and planning for the distribution of the increased medical graduates entering the NHS from 2022/23.

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: Surgery

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has received on Warrington and Halton NHS Trust offering operations as private procedures which used to be free on the NHS.

Stephen Hammond: As of 21 June 2019, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received no direct representations on Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offering operations as private procedures which used to be free on the National Health Service. There has been one representation to the Department from an individual about the matter.

Surgery: Costs

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the additional costs incurred by the NHS as a result of the postponement of operations that are not commissioned by Care Commissioning Groups until a certain threshold is reached.

Stephen Hammond: No such estimate has been made. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for working with their local communities to understand the needs of the populations they serve and make decisions about how best to commission services to meet those needs, in partnership with other local commissioners and organisations.CCGs are also required to carefully consider the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines when making commissioning decisions.

Health Professions: Training

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to reinstate bursaries for UK nursing, midwifery and medical students to ensure an adequate supply of qualified staff in the NHS; what funding schemes he plans to make available to recruit and train midwifery, nursing and medical students; and what steps he is taking to retain UK-trained medical health professionals in the NHS.

Stephen Hammond: The Government has no plans to reinstate bursaries for pre-registration nursing and midwifery degree students. The tuition fee model means universities can offer more places removing the cap that was in place under the previous centrally funded system. Eligible pre-registration nursing and midwifery students can now receive more funding than under the National Health Service bursary system through tuition fee loans and living cost support from the Student Loans Company.To support pre-registration nursing and midwifery students whilst attending the clinical placement element of their courses, the Government introduced a Learning Support Fund. Eligible students can apply for annual payments of £1,000 for child dependants allowance, reimbursement of all clinical placement travel costs above their usual daily travel and exceptional hardship payments of up to £3,000.Eligible undergraduate medical students can access Student Loans Company tuition fee and living cost support for the first four years of their degree. Students on these courses will continue to have access to NHS bursaries for years five and six of their courses. The interim People Plan published on 3 June 2019 sets out some of the steps needed to ensure the NHS have the staff they need to deliver high quality care, including growing our nursing workforce by 40,000 in the next five years.

NHS: Procurement

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has received legal advice on whether practices established by Supply Chain Coordination Limited have breached state aid rules; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any NHS organisations have requested legal advice on whether practices established by Supply Chain Coordination Limited have breached state aid rules; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: As is standard practice, the Department took external legal advice on the establishment of Supply Chain Coordination Limited, which became fully operational on 1 April 2019.Neither the Department or Supply Chain Coordination Limited are aware of any National Health Service trust or NHS foundation trust that has taken any legal advice in respect of a state aid regulations relating to Supply Chain Coordination Limited.

NHS: Procurement

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks to the continuity of supply of vital NHS HealthTech products as a result of changes to NHS procurement through the implementation of the new Operating Model; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department plans to publish on how the NHS Supply Chain will ensure that value for money is a key consideration in all procurement decisions related to HealthTech products; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: Continuity of supply is a key consideration in all sourcing activity undertaken by NHS Supply Chain. NHS Supply Chain also supports the Department’s Supply Resilience and Emergency Preparedness workstreams.Companies which have an innovation that they believe will provide demonstrable benefits to the National Health Service in terms of patient outcomes and/or the future sustainability of the NHS are already being signposted to HeathTech Connect to submit their innovation along with the corresponding evidence to substantiate their claims. In addition to this, NHS Supply Chain, as part of the new operating model, assure that products procured on behalf of the NHS are value for money in terms of formal evaluations to determine the relative costs and benefits of each product. All products must also be safe and meet health and care professional and patient needs consistently via the Clinical and Product Assurance function.

Dementia: International Assistance

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Global Alzheimers and Dementia Action Alliance's report, Forgotten in a Crisis: Addressing Dementia in Humanitarian Response, published in May 2019.

Caroline Dinenage: The UK supports the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on Dementia. In the Challenge on Dementia 2020, we committed to tackle the global challenge of dementia in partnership with Governments and organisations across the world. The Report ‘Forgotten in a Crisis: Addressing Dementia in Humanitarian Response’ plays an important role in highlighting the issues people with dementia face in humanitarian settings. We will make relevant Government departments aware of the Report.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commit to bringing forward a national sexual health strategy.

Seema Kennedy: The development of a national sexual health strategy is a key recommendation in the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on sexual health, which was published on 2 June 2019. The Government is currently considering the report’s recommendations and will publish a formal response shortly.

Testicular Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how rates of testicular cancer diagnosis in the UK compare with ratse in other G20 countries over the last five years.

Seema Kennedy: Age-adjusted rates within the G20 for testicular cancer vary from 0.6 to 10.1 per 100,000 over the last five years. The United Kingdom value is 7.1 per 100,000. There are differences in data recording across the world which will at least partly account for the range of values seen.The estimated incidence of testicular cancer in the G20 group in 2018 is published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer Global Cancer Observatory project. This can be viewed at the following link:http://gco.iarc.fr/Data for the European Union, based on the EU 28 countries, is available at the European Cancer Information System at the following link:https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Diabetes: Preventive Medicine

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

Seema Kennedy: A first progress report covering early implementation of the programme, including numbers of referrals and uptake in its first year, was published as a short report in Diabetic Medicine and is available at the following link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dme.13562The analyses show that referral numbers and percentage uptake are in excess of prior modelled values. Characteristics of attendees also suggest that the programme is reaching those who are both at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and who typically access healthcare less effectively.

Incontinence: Medical Equipment

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the continued smooth import and export of continence products and similar medical devices in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: As in preparation for 29 March and 12 April, our contingency plans for 31 October will cover the National Health Service, social care and the independent sector and covers all medicines, medical devices and clinical consumables, supplies for clinical trials, vaccines and countermeasures, and organs and tissues for transplants.The Department has continued to work closely with the devolved administrations, industry trade bodies and suppliers, the NHS and other key stakeholders. Prior to 29 March, the Department analysed the supply chains of 12,300 medicines, close to half a million product lines of medical devices and clinical consumables, vaccines used in national and local programmes, and essential non-clinical goods on which the health and care system relies. These analyses and assessments have been updated where necessary and will continue to be refined while a ‘no deal’ European Union exit remains a possibility. This work has informed our plans.We are asking suppliers to analyse their supply chains and to make alternative plans if they anticipate disruption, including rerouting to alternative ports or using airfreight where necessary. Our contingency measures aim to support industry-led measures and, where required, act as a ‘last resort’ to be used only when a supplier’s alternative arrangements encounter difficulties, to ensure uninterrupted supply.While we never give guarantees, we are confident that, if everyone – including suppliers, freight companies, international partners and the health and care system – does what they need to do, the supply of medicines and medical products should be uninterrupted in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.

Preventive Medicine

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will publish the Green Paper on prevention.

Seema Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care (Steve Brine MP) to the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss MP) on 16 January 2019 to Question 206879.

Hospitals: Construction

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new NHS hospital facilities specifically for secondary and acute care in England (a) have been built, (b) are under construction and (c) are planned for completion between 2015 and 2025; what the (i) location and (ii) estimated capital value is of each of those new hospital facilities, including those that are valued at less than £100 million; and what the proportion of financing for each project is (A) public and (B) private financing.

Stephen Hammond: In the 2017 Spring and Autumn Budgets, the Government committed £3.9 billion in new capital investment for the National Health Service. £2.4 billion of this has been allocated to over 150 sustainability and transformation partnership (STP) schemes to modernise and transform buildings and services across the country. In the Spending Review later this year, the Government will consider proposals from the NHS for a multi-year capital plan to support the health service as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan. Separate from the STP capital programme, the Department has also supported a variety of other investments in new NHS facilities. Under Section 40 of the NHS Act 2006, the Secretary of State may give financial assistance, such as loans or Public Dividend Capital to any NHS foundation trust. The Papworth Hospital and the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital were completed in 2018 and 2015 respectively under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The Royal Liverpool Hospital and Midland Metropolitan Hospital started off as PFI schemes and are now being completed with public capital.

Smoking: Children

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  what estimate he has made of the number of children under the age of 16 that smoke who smoke in each year since 2003.

Seema Kennedy: The smoking prevalence among regular smokers aged 11-15 years has been falling since 2002. The most recent estimate was 3% in 2016, down from 9% in 2003 as presented in the following table:YearSmoking prevalence (%)2003920049200592006920076200862009620105201152012420133201432015-*20163Note: *No data available as the survey changed from annual to every two years.Source: NHS Digital – Smoking, drinking and drug use in young people survey.

Influenza: Vaccination

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of doses of flu vaccine required in winter 2019-20 and (b) proportion of those doses which will need to be sourced from outside the UK; and what plans he has in place to ensure the adequate supply of flu vaccine in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019.

Seema Kennedy: Flu vaccines for people aged 18 years and older are procured directly from manufacturers and suppliers by providers, based on their local assessment of need. The procurement and distribution of flu vaccines for the children’s aspect of the national flu programme is managed by Public Health England (PHE). Doses of flu vaccine for 2019/20 is estimated using end of season for 2018/19 that are published on GOV.UK at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake-in-gp-patients-monthly-data-2018-to-2019https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake-in-healthcare-workers-monthly-data-2018-to-2019Seasonal flu vaccines for 2019/20 are currently being manufactured and due for delivery to the market in the autumn. Vaccine production is a complex and multi-stage process, which will involve a touch-point outside of the United Kingdom.Officials continuously monitor the flu vaccine supply landscape to enable timely and appropriate action to be taken in the event of supply issues.The Department, PHE and NHS England are in regular discussion with the manufacturers to ensure they have appropriate contingency plans in place to prepare for a potential ‘no deal’ scenario.

Emigration: Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications have been received for the Government's ex gratia payment scheme for former British child migrants as of 24 June 2019.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applicants to the Government's ex-gratia payment scheme for former British child migrants have received payments as of 24 June 2019.

Jackie Doyle-Price: As of 24 June 2019, a total of 1,451 completed applications for payment had been received and 1,385 payments made.

Emigration: Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to continue funding the Family Restoration Fund for former child migrants following the end of the current scheme.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department have made trends in the level of demand for support provided by the Family Restoration Fund for former child migrants as a result of the introduction of the Government's ex gratia payment scheme for former child migrants.

Jackie Doyle-Price: On current plans, the Family Restoration Fund for former British child migrants will continue until April 2020. In the nine years that it has been in place, the Fund has helped nearly 700 former British child migrants to make over 1,200 trips to be reunited with their loved ones. Future funding will be considered as part of the forthcoming spending review.The Child Migrants Trust, who manage the Family Restoration Fund on behalf of the Government, provide monthly data to the Department. Data provided up to the end of March 2019 does not suggest that patterns of demand have changed significantly as compared to the previous year.

Loneliness: Social Prescribing

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on (a) establishing regional social prescribing steering groups, (b) holding regional social prescribing workshops and (c) facilitating a cross-government social prescribing workshop in relation to the Government's loneliness strategy.

Caroline Dinenage: Seven Regional Social Prescribing Steering Groups, covering the country, have now been established. Each steering group comprises key stakeholders that work together to maximise impact of social prescribing in their region. Two social prescribing network/workshop events were held in each region in 2018/19, and between April and June 2019, an additional event was held in each region aimed at commissioners and other key stakeholders. These additional events were designed to support the development of shared local plans to recruit and embed link workers in Primary Care Networks and align with existing local social prescribing schemes In November 2018 the first meeting of the cross-Government social prescribing taskforce took place. Meeting are usually held every two months and involve a range of Government departments and agencies. The taskforce brings together those with a shared interest in social prescribing to discuss how policy in a range of areas, including work on the loneliness strategy, can support work to maximise its impact.

Care Homes: Standards

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of care homes are rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission in (a) Liverpool, (b) the North West and (c) England.

Caroline Dinenage: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has provided the following data:-Number of active care homes with latest overall rating as ‘Inadequate’Total active care homesPercentage1 of active care homes by latest overall ratingLiverpool Local Authority1891.1%North West Region201,9151.0%England23015,6681.5%Notes: 1Percentages for each latest overall rating are as a proportion of total active care homes, including homes with no published rating to date.The data provided can be used in accordance with the Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information by acknowledging the CQC as the data source.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Abortion

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if his Department will take steps to publish detailed country policy analyses pertaining to the Effectiveness Evaluation of the Prevention of Maternal Deaths from Unwanted Pregnancy Programme.

Harriett Baldwin: My Department published the Evaluation of the Prevention of Maternal Deaths from Unwanted Pregnancy Programme which can be found here, together with the management response. The report summarises the extensive findings; including evaluation background, findings from countries policy analysis and methodological approaches. We do not intend to publish anything further at this stage.

Uganda: Overseas Aid

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much the UK spends in Official Development Assistance in Uganda; and to what projects that funding is allocated.

Harriett Baldwin: Please see the below table providing details of bilateral ODA spend in Uganda in each of the last three financial years. Financial YearDFID Funding to Uganda (£)2016 – 2017110,056,3272017 – 2018124,803,1462018 - 2019102,509,635Total337,369,108Figure 1: table providing details of DFID’s funding in Uganda in each of the last three financial yearsCentrally managed programmes and multilateral spending totalled a further c. £100m annually.A full list of the programmes the Department for International Development (DFID) has supported over the last three years is also published on https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/.

Food: Sustainable Development

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the international alliance on Sustainable Development Goal 2 proposed by Germany at the World Bank Spring Meeting.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK is playing its part to ending hunger and undernutrition through a substantial portfolio of agricultural and other economic development programmes, social safety nets, and humanitarian response interventions; through its bilateral programmes as well as support to multilateral institutions. But more needs to be done if we are to end hunger by 2030. We are discussing with Germany and other leading development partners how we can achieve a step change including the potential value of a possible major global moment on SDG2 in 2020. We are also engaging with international actors to consider how such a moment could work alongside the planned summit hosted by Japan to accelerate progress to reduce malnutrition as one part of SDG2.

Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has made of the humanitarian effect of the situation in Sudan; and what steps his Department is taking to support those at risk in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government continues to monitor the humanitarian situation in Sudan with concern. Close to two million people live as Internally Displaced People inside Sudan, with around 600,000 living precarious lives as refugees beyond its borders. Sudan also hosts close to a million refugees.In early 2018 Sudan’s economy entered a phase of widespread crisis resulting in real incomes collapsing and prices of commodities increasing. The United Nations states that 5.7 million people, including all of those displaced, are in need of humanitarian support, although they estimate the number at risk is 8 million people due to the current economic crisis.The United Nations has developed a response to meet the needs of 4.4 million people that would cost $1.2bn, and relies on the governing authorities in Sudan to facilitate safe passage of these supplies and aid workers to reach those in need of assistance. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Sudan is prioritising the humanitarian response and has already contributed £30 million this fiscal year. In addition, the UK has raised the humanitarian situation in multilateral fora, including at the European Union on 7 June calling for all to respect International Humanitarian Law and enhance the environment for protection of civilians.

Developing Countries: Human Trafficking

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle human trafficking in developing countries.

Dr Andrew Murrison: DFID is at the forefront of the UK’s efforts to tackle modern slavery, one of the biggest human rights challenges of our time. The UK launched the Call to Action to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking in 2017 and it has now been endorsed by close to 90 countries. The UK will continue to take a leading role driving change through the multilateral system to help achieve sustainable development goal (SDG) 8.7 and other relevant goals to end modern slavery in all its forms. Using UK Aid which now totals over £200m, our programmes work to reduce vulnerability to exploitation and address the permissive environments that allow modern slavery and human trafficking to thrive. We are supporting countries’ efforts to tackle the root causes of trafficking by: creating jobs and livelihoods; changing business and recruitment practices to eradicate exploitation in supply chains; helping build law enforcement capacity increase detection and prosecution of perpetrators; and improving services to protect victims.

Palestinian Authority: Pay

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2019 to Question 265408 on Palestinian Authority: Pay, whether his Department's disbursements to the Palestinian Authority (PA) been reduced to reflect the PA's partial salary payments.

Dr Andrew Murrison: DFID has not reduced its funding to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) health and education sectors for financial year 2019/20. While PA salaries have recently been reduced, our contribution still comprises only a proportion of the PA’s total health and education sector wage bill. UK aid to the PA’s health and education sectors is used exclusively to pay the salaries of vetted health and education public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses, in the West Bank. The PA’s decision to make partial salary payments to public sector officials does not affect the robust financial safeguards that ensure UK financial aid reaches its intended beneficiaries.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Standards

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what standards his Department uses to set acceptable levels of (a) vibration, (b) noise and (c) dust and air quality in construction projects funded by his Department; and when those applicable standards were (i) set and (ii) last reviewed.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Schools: Construction

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the construction of Ealing Fields High school, what his Department's policy is on provision of compensation for (a) structural and (b) non-structural damage caused by construction of Departmental projects.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Holiday Activities and Food Research Fund

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make available the scoring data of the respective bids for grant funding from the Holiday Activities and Food Programme 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi: In December 2018, we announced £9 million for the 2019 Holiday Activities and Food programme. The department invited organisations to bid to take on the role of testing the coordination of free holiday provision for disadvantaged children in a local authority area during the 2019 summer holidays. 92 bids were received and on 8 May 2019, we announced the 11 organisations that had been successful in securing funding for this summer. Since then, officials have provided feedback to unsuccessful bidders, including the bid submitted for the Bristol area that was supported by the hon. Member for Bristol East. Any organisation that submitted an unsuccessful bid can request a breakdown of their scoring data by contacting the department.

Home Education: Gloucestershire

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been withdrawn from school to be home educated in Gloucestershire in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many of those children (a) before or (b) subsequent to their withdrawal have had an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children (a) are on the home education register and (b) have been removed from school by their parents or guardians in each local authority area in the South West in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are being educated at home but who are not listed in the Home Education register in each South-west Authority in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not held centrally.Data on numbers of children educated at home or those removed from school for that purpose are not collected by the department. Consultation on proposals for the creation of a mandatory register of children not enrolled at state-funded or registered independent schools closed on 24 June 2019. If the proposals were to be brought into effect, they would make such data available.

Apprentices: Taxation

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department allocated from the apprenticeship budget to (a) apprenticeship levy paying employers, (b) top up payments to apprenticeship levy paying employers, (c) non-apprenticeship levy paying employers, (d) ongoing costs of apprenticeships already in training prior to 1 April 2017, (e) English and maths qualifications, (f) incentive payments for 16- to 18-year-old apprentices and (g) additional support for apprentices that are care leavers or have special needs in financial year (i) 2017-2018 and (ii) 2018-19.

Anne Milton: The balance that levy payers see in their apprenticeship service accounts is distinct from the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget. The balance in employers’ accounts is based on their total levy contributions and how many of their employees live in England. The department also tops up these funds by 10% after this English portion has been calculated.Levy-paying employers can use the funds in their accounts to place orders for the training and assessment of their apprentices. The department then pays the relevant providers and end-point assessment organisations directly from its ring-fenced apprenticeships budget. An amount equal to the value of this provider payment is also deducted from the levy payer’s account balance.The department’s ring-fenced apprenticeship budget is set in advance by Her Majesty’s Treasury to fund apprenticeships in England only. The expenditure on various parts of the apprenticeship programme is calculated based on the cash payments made from this ring-fenced budget.It should be noted that aggregated information on spending by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the department for 2017-18 is held by the ESFA and included here, but information for 2018-19 will be published in the audited annual reports and accounts later this year. Annual data on levy collected in 2018-19 will be published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.In 2017-18, spending on apprentices employed with levy payers, and who started training after the levy was introduced, was £268 million.In making employers’ levy contributions available as funds in their apprenticeship service accounts, the government applies a 10-per-cent top-up to these contributions. However, the balances in these accounts are distinct from the department’s ring-fenced budget for apprenticeships. Where employers are using some or all of this top-up to fund new apprenticeships, this spend is reflected in the answer to (A) above.£189 million was spent on training for apprentices who started on or after 1 May 2017 with employers who do not pay the levy. In 2017/18, £1,065 million was spent on ongoing costs of training apprentices who started before the levy was introduced in May 2017.Of the £457 million spent on new starts in 2017-18 (£268 million on levy payers and £189 million on non-levy payers), £38 million was spent on English and Maths teaching. £72 million was spent on additional provider payments and employer payments for apprentices aged 16 to 18 and apprentices aged up to 24 years old who have either an education, health and care plan or who have been in local authority care. £27 million was spent on other smaller elements of funding policy, such as learning support.

Assessments: Data Protection

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that schools and colleges follow guidance on exam procedure to minimise the risk of security breaches.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the hon. Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Pupil Exclusions: Secondary Education

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term exclusions from secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: Schools can only exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons and the Department supports head teachers in using exclusion where this is warranted.Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the school's behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.The Timpson Review of school exclusion considered how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, particularly why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. The review and the Government response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.The Government welcomes the review and agrees with all 30 recommendations in principle. The Government is committed to supporting schools and their partners and will be taking forward an ambitious response which respects headteachers’ powers to use exclusion.

Pupil Exclusions: Sunderland

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of secondary school exclusions in Sunderland in 2017-18.

Nick Gibb: Statistics on exclusions in the 2017/18 academic year are not yet available. The number and rate of permanent and fixed period exclusions in Sunderland decreased from 2015/16 to 2016/17. This is information is available from the National Statistics report of permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England, accessible via:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2016-to-2017.The Timpson review of school exclusion and the Government’s response were published in May 2019 and can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence.The review makes 30 recommendations and highlights variation in exclusions practice across different schools, local authorities and certain groups of children. The Government agrees with all 30 recommendations in principle and will take forward a response which respects headteachers’ powers to use exclusion while equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion.

Children in Care: Missing People

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March to Question 229651 on Children in care, how many looked-after children placed in children's homes inside and outside the borough were reported missing in each local authority in each year since 2015.

Nadhim Zahawi: The number of looked-after children in children’s homes who went missing or away without authorisation by placement location since 2015 for each local authority is shown in the attached table. The figures are presented in this combined way to reflect the fact that some authorities have informed the department that they do not record any incidents as 'away without authorisation' but instead report all incidents as 'missing' information.The latest figures on children looked after who go missing are published in Table G1 of the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.All figures on the overall number of children who were looked after during the year, who were missing or away from placement without authorisation, are still classified as experimental statistics. This is the fourth year these statistics have been collected in this way, and local authorities have reported some variation over recent years in how these incidents are recorded.As experimental statistics, figures are not comparable across years. Local authority comparisons should be treated with the same degree of caution and firm conclusions cannot be drawn about local practice. We will continue to assess whether the figures are considered robust enough to be classed as national statistics, rather than experimental.



268391_Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 94 KB)

Children in Care: Location

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2019 to Question 265439 on Children in care, how many looked-after children have been placed in children’s homes (a) in borough and (b) out of borough at a distance (i) greater than 20 miles and (ii) fewer than 20 miles by each local authority in each year since 2015.

Nadhim Zahawi: The number of looked-after children in children’s homes by placement location since 2015 for each local authority is shown in the attached table. The latest national figures on children looked after by distance between home and placement and locality of placement are published in Table A4 of the statistical release, ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. 



268392_Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 120 KB)

Schools: Mental Health Services

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Transforming Children Green Paper, what his strategy is for ensuring a joined-up approach between school mental health leads and other appropriate agencies to improve the mental health of young people.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners' Transfers: Pregnancy

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents have there been of pregnant women being transported in cellular vehicles since the introduction of the Women’s Policy Framework in December 2018.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many instances there have been of women being transported to prison in the same prison transport vehicle as men in each of the last five years.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service prison transport contract specifies that women and men should be transported to prison separately.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been of women being held in a cellular vehicle overnight until prison reception opens in the last 12 months.

Edward Argar: The Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract is specifically designed for the movement of prisoners in cellular vehicles that meets MOJ standards. A total of 191 pregnant women have been transported since December 2018, with 1 being moved by a cellular vehicle because she did not declare her pregnancy before the move. Below is a table showing the number of instances when both women and men have been transported in the same vehicle. PECS contracts include a Contract Delivery Indicator which requires women to be separated from men for at least 97% of all journeys made. The current national performance is 99.93% of total journeys made.YearNumber of instances OF failure to separate females201429720152262016262201781201852019 YTD5Contracts also include a requirement that individuals should not remain on a cellular, or any other vehicle, overnight and there have been no instances where women have been held in such circumstances. Private providers continue to play an important role in the prison estate. We will continue to closely the performance of all providers and we will not hesitate to take action wherestandards fall short.

Ministry of Justice: Pay

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on increasing the pay of civil servants in his Department.

Edward Argar: The Civil Service Pay Guidance is issued by the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury centrally each year and all departments are required to adhere to the principles set out in the guidance. Departments are invited to submit a flexibility business case with the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury if they wish to make pay award over the limit. MoJ do not deviate from this process set out in the guidance and Ministers are typically not involved in the process.

Hull Prison: Length of Service

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of service is for a prison officer at HMP Hull.

Robert Buckland: As at 31st March 2019, the average length of service for a prison officer at HMP Hull was 12.4 years. The length of service in HMPPS is calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS. Prison Officers Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (includes specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers. We want prison officers to stay and progress their careers. We have improved induction processes to ease transition into the job, provide care and support for our staff and offer additional training. These measures are part of the work we are doing directly with Governors to address local issues and ensure experienced staff and new recruits remain in the service.

Council Tax: Debts

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much debt was outstanding in relation to individuals sent to prison for council tax non-payment in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of the average (a) cost to the public purse of a prison sentence and (b) amount of debt outstanding in cases where people have been sent to prison for council tax non-payment in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many liability orders were granted to local authorities by magistrates in England and Wales for the non-payment of council tax in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people paid their council tax debt in full to avoid committal to prison in England and Wales in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people paid their council tax debt in full part way through committal proceedings in England and Wales in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people kept up with suspended committal order payments for council tax debt in England and Wales in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people did not keep up with suspended committal order payments for council tax debt in England and Wales in each year between 2010 and 2018.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of council tax debt has been remitted by magistrates on the grounds of hardship in each year since 2010.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in what proportion of council tax debt cases have magistrates ordered a means assessment of the debtor in each year since 2018.

Paul Maynard: The Ministry of Justice does not centrally hold the information requested. Local Authorities are the responsible prosecuting body for council tax evasion and hold the relevant information regarding council tax debts.

Prisoners' Release: Housing

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of housing provision for discharged prisoners.

Robert Buckland: It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live.  We know that housing can be a real problem for those leaving custody. As part of the work on this issue, we have invested £22m per annum until the end of the current contracts with Community Rehabilitation Companies so they can provide a specified enhanced Through The Gate (TTG) service in all 86 resettlement prisons in England and Wales. However, offenders still face a number of barriers in accessing accommodation, including the availability of local authority housing, affordability of the private-rented sector and the knowledge and expertise required to navigate housing services.  Addressing these barriers is not something the Ministry of Justice can do in isolation; we are developing an HMPPS strategy for accommodation that will clearly set out our responsibilities, our partners’ responsibilities and a framework for how we can build on our successes and work together to ensure that offenders are able to access and maintain settled accommodation. We are also working collaboratively with the Welsh Government and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to identify ways of breaking down these barriers and to ensure that every person leaving prison has somewhere to go. As part of this, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. This pilot will offer support to prisoners on short sentences who have been identified as being at risk of homelessness. Subject to evaluation, we will use the lessons learned from this pilot to inform future accommodation provision.

Prisoners' Release: Housing

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has evidence that tents have been given to prisoners on release in (a) South Wales and (b) Yorkshire in the last 12 months.

Robert Buckland: We do not hold the data requested as it is not our policy to issue tents to service users. Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) are required to facilitate access to housing and support services for the offenders that they are managing. This includes working together with local partners to help offenders find accommodation and supporting them to maintain their accommodation as part of a package of support tailored to meet their individual needs. We are investing an additional £22m per annum over the remaining life of the CRC contracts to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced Through The Gate service to offenders leaving prison. Alongside this investment we have introduced a new Through the Gate specification which will ensure that CRCs complete specific tasks, including to help every prisoner to secure and maintain settled accommodation. As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. Contracts have now been awarded in the three areas and, following a mobilisation period, we expect services to commence in Summer of this year. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.

Offences against Children: Prison Sentences

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were serving a sentence for sexual offences against a child in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland: We have provided information for the past 4 years of the number of people serving a prison sentence for a sexual offence against a child. To provide equivalent data for 30 June 2014 would entail disproportionate cost. This is due to an improvement made in 2015 where Child Sexual Abuse offences were specifically differentiated within our offence information.30th June 2015 - 7,40430th June 2016 - 8,37630th June 2017 - 8,96530th June 2018 - 9,167The figures given have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Civil Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has any plans to consult on the possibility of a statutory definition for vexatious applications in the court system in England and Wales.

Paul Maynard: The Ministry of Justice has no plans to consult on the possibility of a statutory definition for vexatious applications. It is unacceptable for someone to use court processes to harass or abuse a former partner.The Divisional Court currently rules on whether an application is vexatious and this judicial decision is made on a case by case basis given the restriction to access to justice of the applicant if found to be vexatious.

Prisons: Disciplinary Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison staff have been disciplined for bringing contraband into prisons by role in each of the last five years.

Robert Buckland: HMPPS is committed to investigating and eliminating corruption to ensure prisons remain a safe and secure environment for staff, prisoners and visitors. There are over 46,000 people working in the Prison and Probation Service and the vast majority are dedicated and hard-working. However, when we do find evidence of wrongdoing by staff we do not hesitate to take firm disciplinary action. We have invested heavily in security measures to prevent contraband entering the estate. This includes training more than 300 sniffer dogs, rolling out scanners and transforming our intelligence capabilities. We have also built up our ability to work with law enforcement to disrupt criminal networks. We use body searches and staff can be subject to intelligence-based searches at any time. Table 1: Total number of HMPPS prison staff1 disciplined2 for bringing contraband into prisons3, by role, for the years 2013/14 to 2017/18Role2013/14 2014/152015/162016/17 2017/18Bands 6-8 / Managers0~~00Band 3-54 Prison Officers197373Band 2 / Operational Support7440~Band 3 / Administrative Officer~~~00Other Admin0~00~Instructional Officer00~0~Psychology~00~0Industrial / Facilities0~034Other and Unknown Grades~00~0Total291491111Notes: 1. Staff subject to at least one conduct and discipline that was concluded during the year2. Conduct and discipline cases are defined as where a penalty has been imposed on a member of HMPPS staff for a reason of conduct3. Contraband is considered to be any prohibited good trafficked into the prison by a member of staff4. Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers ~ denotes suppressed values of 2 or fewer, or other values which would allow values of 2 or fewer to be derived by subtraction. In some instances, zeroes have also been suppressed in order to ensure that low numbers cannot be calculatedLow numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998   As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However, the database itself is dynamic and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate.

Prisons: Security

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of X-ray body scanners in prisons in England and Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2019 to Question 237103 on Prisons: Security, what the timetable is for the tendering and subsequent rollout of body scanners in England and Wales.

Robert Buckland: We are taking urgent and decisive action to stop contraband from entering our prisons. These illicit items pose a significant threat to safety and security. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) initially trialled the use of X-ray body scanners in a small number of prisons. Based on learning from these trial sites, a significant investment was made in 2018/19 to purchase 18 newly-designed body scanners for the establishments in the 10 Prisons Project and for the Long Term and High Security estate. We believe X-ray scanning technology provides an effective method of confirming whether a prisoner is attempting to smuggle contraband via internal concealment. The future rollout and tendering of a HMPPS specific contract for X-ray body scanning technology will commence formally later in 2019.

Residential Women's Centres

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's press release of 27 June 2018 entitled Secretary of State launches dedicated strategy to break the cycle of female offending, how many residential women's centres have been opened in England and Wales for females convicted of offences since June 2018; and what the locations are of those centres.

Edward Argar: The Female Offender Strategy committed to develop a ‘residential women’s centre’ pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales. The aim of the pilots, when they begin, will be to develop an evidence base for how we might reduce the numbers of women entering and re-entering custody for short periods. We want to make sure the models we take forward are sustainable, scalable and appropriate for the local context of each site. We have recently concluded our first phase of consultation with stakeholders, partners and providers to inform our scoping. We will continue to consult with partners as we refine the design and delivery of the pilot. We are currently reflecting on the findings from our scoping work to develop a delivery plan for the pilots. No decisions regarding the location of Residential Women’ Centre pilots have yet been made.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timetable is for the (a) termination of the 21 contracts for Community Rehabilitation Companies and (b) return of the management of offenders to the National Probation Service.

Robert Buckland: In May 2019, we announced significant changes to the future structure of probation services in England and Wales. To allow us sufficient time for a smooth transition to the new model, we have put in place arrangements that will allow us to extend CRC contracts up until spring 2021. We aim to complete the integration of CRC offender management functions into the NPS in England in line with the termination of CRC contracts. In Wales, where our plans are more developed and where probation areas are already coterminous, we aim to complete the integration of offender management under the NPS in December 2019.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) prevalence and (b) level of risk of illegal mobile phone use in prisons in England and Wales.

Robert Buckland: The illegal use of mobile phones in prisons is one of the most significant threats facing our prisons. Illicit mobile phones undermine good order and control in prisons, and perpetuates ongoing criminality. They are used by prisoners for a range of criminal purposes, including drug supply, witness intimidation, extreme violence, involvement in organised crime and successful escapes. In the 12 months to March 2018 there were 15,036 mobile phones found in prisons, along with 9,345 SIM cards. This is an increase of 9% and 30% respectively compared with the previous 12-month period. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has implemented a threefold approach to tackling the threat posed by mobile phones in prisons: To minimise the number of phones entering prisons, we are strengthening our gate and perimeter security. This includes drafting specialist search teams into prisons across the country and extending the use of X-ray body scanners more widely across the prison estate to detect when prisoners are internally concealing contraband.To strengthen our efforts to find phones that do enter prisons, we recently announced the installation of new phone detection technology in a number of prisons that will allow prison officers to pinpoint mobile phone signals down to precise cells. Through the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Act 2018, we have additionally expanded blocking powers to allow us to work with mobile network providers to disrupt the use of illicit phones in prisons.We have also made significant improvements to our ability to forensically analyse seized phones and go after the criminal groups that supply them. For example, we have delivered new kits at 30 prisons to allow officers to download data quickly from illicit phones seized from prisoners.

Prisons: Security

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of x-ray body scanners in prisons in England and Wales .

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2019 to Question 246554 on Prisons: Security, what the timeframe is for the installation of x-ray body scanners in the eight selected prisons.

Robert Buckland: We are taking urgent and decisive action to stop contraband from entering our prisons. These illicit items pose a significant threat to safety and security. X-ray body scanners have already been installed at Altcourse, Belmarsh, Doncaster, Forest Bank, Holme House, Leeds, Northumberland and Peterborough. We believe X-ray scanning technology provides an effective method of confirming whether a prisoner is attempting to smuggle contraband via internal concealment.

Probation: Contracts

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of probation work following the merging of the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies will be the subject of competitive tendering.

Robert Buckland: As set out in our strategic response to the consultation ‘Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence’ we intend that, subject to further market engagement, responsibility for the delivery of Unpaid Work, Accredited Programmes, as well the rehabilitation support delivered to offenders as part of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, or to support their resettlement following release from prison will be delivered through contracts with private and voluntary sector organisations under our plans for the future of probation services. Our current estimate of the total value of these contracts is up to £280m per year.

Television: Licensing

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for the non-payment of TV licence fees (i) in total and (ii) of women in each year since 2010.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people and (b) women were sent to prison for the evasion of payment of TV licence fees in each year since 2010.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people, (b) people aged over 75 and (c) women aged over 75 were prosecuted for the evasion of payment of TV licence fees in each year between 1990 and 1999.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prosecutions (a) in total, (b) of people aged over 75 and (c) of women aged over 75 resulted in convictions in each year between 1990 and 1999.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people in total, (b) women, (c) people aged over 75 and (d) women aged over 75 have been sent to prison for the evasion of payment of TV licence fees in each year between 1990 and 1999.

Paul Maynard: The lead Government Department on TV licencing is the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport. The Ministry of Justice has published the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes for the non-payment of TV license fees and figures for each year since 2008 up to December 2018 are available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/802314/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2018.xlsx Select ‘191A Television licence evasion’ in the Offence filter; prosecutions can be found in row 24 and convictions are in row 25.The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody can be found in row 36, however custody is not a sentencing option for TV licence evasion, therefore this row is nil.To see these figures for females, select ’02: Female’ in the Sex filter. The number of people prosecuted and sentenced to immediate custody in total and for TV licence evasion in the years between 1992 (the earliest available in the court proceedings database) and 1999, by age and sex can be found in the attached tables.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 14.69 KB)

Prisoners' Release: Veterans

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support offenders that are veterans of the armed forces (a) before and (b) after  release from prison; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: HM Prison and Probation Service, or their contractors, provide a range of services to meet the needs of veterans in custody and in the community. The Military Covenant is actively supported by all organisations working within HMPPS. All offenders newly received into custody are screened at reception, those who declare their military past can access support from military charities who deliver services in the majority of prisons and work with Community Rehabilitation Companies. Staff will also encourage offenders to declare previous military service at any point during their sentence. Former service personnel benefit from the Veterans in Custody Scheme which aims to raise awareness of the help and support available to them and to their families whilst they serve their sentences and prepare for release. The Ministry of Justice will continue to promote existing partnerships and look to develop new alliances with military charities and organisations who have the skills to work with former members of the Armed Forces in custody and upon release.

Prisoners' Release: Education

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2019 to Question 262419 on Prisoners' Release: Education, what information his Department collects in order to keep under review the volume of courses delivered.

Robert Buckland: The department has mechanisms in place to collect data on volumes of courses offered nationally and on what is delivered. Data regarding the number of starts and completions of accredited programmes is published in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Annual Digest, and can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics. National data tools, including segmentation of the prison and probation population, are made available to HMPPS periodically to support business planning decisions at a local and national level. Data relating to referrals and suitability is held locally. We also keep under review and closely monitor courses that are offered and delivered to ensure that standards are maintained.

Reoffenders: Domestic Abuse

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners given a custodial sentence for domestic violence have reoffended within a year of their release since 2015.

Robert Buckland: There is no specific offence of domestic violence. Conduct amounting to domestic violence can be present in a wide range of offences and is not readily identifiable from court sentencing outcomes. Information on how many prisoners who received a custodial sentence for offences involving domestic violence reoffended within a year of their release since 2015 may be held on court records, but could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as a manual search of court records would be required.

Marriage: Humanism

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals on humanist marriages.

Paul Maynard: The Government announced in last year’s Budget that it would ask the Law Commission to undertake a wider review of marriage ceremonies. We want to make marriage more accessible and meaningful and give couples greater choice in how they can celebrate their commitment. This includes greater flexibility for different faiths and for non-religious belief organisations. We have been finalising the terms of reference for the review and will announce these shortly.

Prisons: Standards

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the findings of the June 2019 report by the Prison Reform Trust, Prison: the facts, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle overcrowding and (b) improve conditions in prisons.

Robert Buckland: Reducing crowding is a central aim of our modernisation of the prison estate. Our plan for reducing prison crowding is to replace prisons that are operating over their certified normal accommodation levels with new accommodation that is safe, decent, and uncrowded and close current (crowded or partially crowded) capacity. The first steps in this direction have already been taken with the opening of 2,100 uncrowded prison places at HMP/YOI Berwyn and 206 uncrowded places in a new houseblock at HMP Stocken. Additionally, we are constructing modern prisons at the former HMP Wellingborough and HMP Glen Parva sites, which are due to open in 2021 and 2023 respectively. We invested an additional £31m in the last financial year to improve conditions in some of the prisons with the most pressing issues. With this funding we delivered refurbishments of nearly 1,000 cells, over 100 shower blocks and 14 food serveries at a number of prisons including HMPs Liverpool, Bristol, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs, as well as essential fire safety work. There is also ongoing refurbishment work to improve the condition of cells, showers and communal areas at a number of prisons, along with several projects to enhance fire safety.

Television: Licensing

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 264316 on Television Licensing, how many of the people committed to prison since 2014 for non-payment of the fine associated with the use of television equipment without a licence were over the age of 75.

Robert Buckland: Since 2014 there have been zero prison admissions for those aged over 75 for non-payment of fines associated with the use of television equipment without a licence.

Prisons: Overcrowding

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of overcrowded prisons in England and Wales.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to reduce overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes monthly individual prison population and capacity information through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-population-statistics As at 31 May 2019, 72 prisons operated with a population above their Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) but not above their operational capacity. There are no prisons operating above their operational capacity in England and Wales. The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by the Prison Group Director on the basis of operational judgement and experience. CNA, or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. CNA represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. Where the operational capacity of a prison is higher than the CNA it will be classed as having the potential to be 'crowded', which can mean prisoners share cells. In the financial year 2017/18, 24.2% of the prison population was being held in crowded conditions, down from 24.5% in the previous year. Reducing crowding is a central aim of our modernisation of the prison estate. Our plan for reducing prison crowding is to replace prisons that are operating over their certified normal accommodation levels with new accommodation that is safe, decent, and uncrowded and close current (crowded or partially crowded) capacity. The first steps in this direction have already been taken with the opening of 2,100 uncrowded prison places at HMP/YOI Berwyn; 206 uncrowded places in a houseblock at Stocken; and a commitment to construct modern, decent, uncrowded prisons at the former HMP Wellingborough and HMP Glen Parva sites, which are due to open in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

Treasury

Economic Crime Strategic Board

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who will be attending the economic crime strategy board meeting on 10 July 2019.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what elements of the economic crime strategy will be discussed at the economic crime strategy board meeting on 10 July 2019.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether extending the failure to prevent criminal offence for bribery to other economic crimes, such as fraud and money laundering, will be discussed at the economic crime strategy board meeting on 10 July 2019.

John Glen: The Economic Crime Strategic Board, co-chaired by the Chancellor and the Home Secretary, met for the first time on 14 January 2019. The Board sets priorities, directs resources and scrutinises performance against the economic crime threat. Its membership includes ministers, government officials and senior representatives from supervisory and law enforcement authorities, and the private sector. In its inaugural meeting, the Board commissioned the development of a shared public-private Economic Crime Plan and the development of a joint public-private economic crime threat update. The Economic Crime Plan – which will be published – will outline the public and private sectors’ collective ambition to combat economic crime and set out a series of concrete actions that both sectors will collectively undertake to enhance the UK’s economic crime response. A wide range of stakeholders from both the private sector and civil society have been consulted to inform the development of the Plan. The Board will meet for a second time on 10 July 2019 at which it will discuss the draft Economic Crime Plan and the economic crime threat update. The outcomes of the meeting will be published in due course.

Homelessness

Alex Sobel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to include funding for homelessness services in his forthcoming spending review.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is committed to addressing the issue of homelessness. We have allocated over £1.2 billion in homelessness funding to 2020. This includes £100 million for the Rough Sleeping Strategy, to help achieve the Government’s objective of reducing rough sleeping by half by 2022 and eliminating it by 2027. Decisions on funding for future years are to be decided at the Spending Review.

Economic Growth

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the all-party parliamentary group on wellbeing economics' report entitled A spending review to increase wellbeing, published 24 May 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: I have noted the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wellbeing Economics report and the Treasury regularly receive representations on all aspects of public spending. The forthcoming Spending Review will allow us to take a systematic view of all public spending and introduce reforms in line with the Government’s vision for the UK economy and public services.This will include working closely with departments to identify priorities and inform decisions on how to direct resources to improve people’s opportunities over the long-term.

Tax Avoidance

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the numbers of (a) people with closed tax years who have been found liable for the 2019 Loan Charge and (b) promoters of loan schemes subject to the 2019 Loan Charge that have been convicted of criminal offences related to those loan charges.

Jesse Norman: The information requested is not available. HMRC are working through the settlement process with those Disguised Remuneration users who came forward to settle their tax affairs before 5 April 2019. The loan charge was announced in Budget 2016, and scheme users who chose not to repay the outstanding loan or agree a settlement with HMRC by 5 April 2019 are now liable for the loan charge and should report it as part of their 2018-19 tax liability. To date, no promoters of disguised remuneration (DR) schemes have been convicted of criminal offences related to DR schemes. There are no criminal offences specific to the promotion of mass marketed tax avoidance schemes, but HMRC may conduct a criminal investigation into an individual’s actions when, for example, reliance is placed on a false or altered document, or if material facts are misrepresented. For example, last month six individuals were arrested on suspicion of promoting fraudulent loan charge arrangements. Since the formation of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service on 1 April 2016, more than 20 individuals have been convicted for offences relating to arrangements which have been promoted and marketed as tax avoidance schemes, resulting in over 100 years custodial sentences. A significant number of avoidance scheme promoters are currently under criminal investigation by HMRC.

Tax Avoidance

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will suspend the 2019 Loan Charge and associated settlements and launch an independent review of the effects of that charge on people subject to it; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will suspend the 2019 Loan Charge and associated settlements and launch an independent review of the effects of that charge on people subject to it; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: Disguised remuneration schemes are contrived arrangements that use loan payments in place of ordinary remuneration, usually through an offshore trust, with the purpose of avoiding tax. These loans are no different to normal income in their purpose and effect, and HMRC’s position is that they are, and have always been, taxable. In accordance with an amendment to the Finance Act 2019, the Government published a report into disguised remuneration schemes. This can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-on-time-limits-and-the-disguised-remuneration-loan-charge. The Government has no plans to review the policy. HMRC offers a range of taxpayer support services, both directly and through independent organisations, and would strongly encourage anyone who is affected by the charge to contact them and discuss their situation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Roads: South West

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Transport, (b) Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and (c) Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential wider economic benefits to the South West of the Government’s proposed improvements to the A303/A358/A30 corridor.

Jake Berry: MHCLG ministers and officials meet regularly with other departments to discuss strategic issues to promote local economic growth.

Parking: Codes of Practice

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward plans to draft the parking code of practice.

Rishi Sunak: The Government is committed to delivering the Code of Practice as soon as possible. We are currently considering the format for formal stakeholder engagement and will make an announcement in due course. We are also committed to carrying out a full public consultation on the draft Code of Practice, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.

Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to implement the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019.

Rishi Sunak: The Government is committed to delivering the Code of Practice as soon as possible. We are currently considering the format for stakeholder engagement, and options for the delivery of the Code and the design of the levy on industry. We will make an announcement in due course. We are also committed to carrying out a public consultation on the draft Code of Practice, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.

Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has for stakeholder engagement on the development of the secondary legislation code of practice in respect of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019; what the format will be for that engagement; and when that engagement will take place.

Rishi Sunak: The Act requires that the Code of Practice be developed in consultation with stakeholders. We are currently considering the format for stakeholder engagement and will make an announcement in due course. We are also committed to carrying out a public consultation on the draft Code of Practice, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.

Council Tax: Debt Collection

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistency in the application of the use of custody to recover council tax debt throughout local authorities.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistency in debt collection practices by local authorities throughout England.

Rishi Sunak: It is for local authorities to decide on the most appropriate mechanisms for collecting council tax debt. The Department is working with local government and the debt advice sector to support fairer and more compassionate council tax recovery. We intend to issue updated guidance to councils, before considering the scope for further reforms.

Debt Collection

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the regularity of reviews of debt collection practices undertaken by local authorities.

Rishi Sunak: The Government does not hold data on the regularity of reviews of debt collection practices undertaken by local authorities.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 262396, whether his Department is aware of any fire safety tests carried out in the UK on other forms of non-ACM cladding.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 26 June 2019



The Building Research Establishment has published a list of successful large scale test (BS 8414) on their website, these can be accessed at the following:https://www.bre.co.uk/regulatory-testingIn addition product manufacturers regularly put information on their websites about successful fire safety tests.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 262396, whether the Government provided information on the failed BS 8414 test to (a) fire authorities and (b) local authority building control departments across the UK.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 26 June 2019



We have provided information on non-Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) materials including High Pressure Laminates, to fire authorities, local authorities and building owners through the publication of Advice Note 14. Advice Note 14 was published in 2017 and updated in December 2018. The advice note provides a decision tree that directs them to seek professional help and consider remediation measures if they do not have the necessary evidence that a cladding system is safe. The full advice note reiterates that the clearest way to ensure safety is to remove the unsafe materials and is available at the following  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/765761/Expert_Panel_advice_note_on_non-ACM.pdfActing on advice from the Independent Expert Advisory Panel, the Government has commissioned research to support further understanding of the fire performance of non-ACM external wall systems, this includes a number of High Pressure Laminate systems of varying composition. The tests began on 30 April 2019 and we expect final results to be available by the Summer. The research findings will be published in due course. In addition, the Department commissioned the Fire Protection Association to carry out a large scale test (BS 8414) using High Pressure Laminate panels and stone wool insulation.

Social Services

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what representations he has made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the allocation of additional funding to local authorities for the provision of adult social care services.

Rishi Sunak: The Government recognises the pressures facing local government, and this is why we have given councils access to £3.9 billion for adult social care this year. The Secretary of State speaks regularly with the Chancellor on a range of matters, including local government funding. Future funding for local government will be considered by the Government at this year’s Spending Review and work is already underway.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2019 to Question 259244 on Buildings: Insulation, whether the BS 8414 test of a High Pressure Laminate cladding system has been carried out; and if he will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 262396 on Buildings: Insulation, whether his Department holds video footage of the failed BS 8414 test.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 262396 on Buildings: Insulation, what steps his Department took after learning of the failed BS 8414 test of high pressure laminate cladding with combustible insulation.

Kit Malthouse: The failed BS 8414 test was one of the factors that the Expert Panel and the Department took into account when revising Advice note 14 in December 2018 as well as carrying further tests on High Pressure Laminate panels.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the statement by his Department in the newspaper article entitled, Labour blasts government for not acting on potential deathtraps after Grenfell, published on 21 June 2019, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that there are no buildings with a combination of (a) High Pressure Laminate, (b) aluminium composite material cladding and insulation.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,with reference to the statement by his Department in the newspaper article entitled, Labour blasts government for not acting on potential deathtraps after Grenfell, published on 21 June 2019, whether he will be mandating the remediation of the combination of cladding and insulation on (a) social and (b) privately owned housing.

Kit Malthouse: We issued unambiguous advice to building owners over 18 months ago to reinforce existing building safety requirements which state only materials which are of limited combustibility or have passed a BS 8414 test should be used on buildings. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/765761/Expert_Panel_advice_note_on_non-ACM.pdf  Building owners should reassure themselves that any cladding used on their buildings is of limited combustibility or has passed a BS 8414 test. If not, building owners should take action to make the building safe. The large scale (BS 8414) test referred to in the article was commissioned by a third party. The details of the test are commercially confidential. The Department is not party to the detail of the class of High Pressure Laminate (HPL) or type of system tested.   The Department has commissioned a full-scale BS 8414 test on HPL panels with non-combustible insulation. When the results are available they will inform whether any additional action is necessary over and above the advice already issued.

Local Government Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will list the 10 local authorities with the greatest real terms reduction in central government funding since 2010.

Rishi Sunak: Due to changes in the finance and function of local government, there is no consistent measure of central government funding since 2010. The Department’s preferred measure of local government funding is Core Spending Power. Core Spending power is comparable over the period 2015-16 to 2019-20 and published in cash terms on the Department's website:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2019-to-2020   The 10 local authorities with the greatest reduction in Core Spending Power over the period 2015-16 to 2019-20 are listed below: Basingstoke and DeaneBrentwoodEast CambridgeshireEpsom and EwellForest HeathGedlingHuntingdonshireNorth DorsetSt AlbansWatford

Social Rented Housing

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to publish a social housing White Paper.

Kit Malthouse: There are no plans for a White Paper. The consultation on the Green Paper, ‘A new deal for social housing’, closed on 6 November 2018. We received a large number of responses, along with feedback from eight engagement events held with social housing residents around the country. We are currently assessing the responses and finalising our response.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Sexual Offences

Ross Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to tackle alleged sexual harassment in the Armed Forces.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: No one should have to work in an environment where they are sexually harassed or experience other forms of inappropriate behaviour which are clearly incompatible with the high values and standards we expect of our people. The Armed Forces are committed to addressing this issue through a range of activities, including surveys and climate assessments, awareness campaigns, and training around equality, diversity, inclusion and values. Addressing this type of behaviour is also a leadership issue and covered in leadership training modules. In addition, each unit in the Armed Forces has at least one trained Equality and Diversity Inclusion Adviser, who has a key role in advising the Commanding Officer on Equality Legislation and, where incidents occur, providing advice to those involved on the option of informal resolution of the matter or submission of a Service complaint.We recognise the great courage it takes to come forward and report sexual harassment. Personnel who come forward can have full confidence that all allegations are thoroughly investigated.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Procurement

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) period and (b) cost is of the contract between his Department and NP Aerospace in relation to Protected Mobility Engineering and Technical Support.

Stuart Andrew: The £63 million Protected Mobility Engineering and Technical Services contract was awarded to NP Aerospace Limited in January 2019. It is expected to run until 2024, with options to extend until 2030.

Anduril: Marines

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) period and (b) cost is of the contract between the Royal Marines Commando force and Andurial Industries.

Stuart Andrew: There is no direct contract in place between the Royal Marines and Anduril Industries. Equipment was procured from the company by QinetiQ on behalf of the Royal Navy. For reasons of commercial sensitivity, I am withholding information regarding the value.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps she is taking increase the proportion of her Department's procurement with SMEs.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is taking a number of positive actions to make it easier for smaller companies to do business with defence, for example launching sub-contract advertising on our online portal and engaging more regularly with smaller businesses to help understand the challenges they face. We are also introducing new measures to ensure prime contractors' pay promptly and working to improve the pipeline information that we publish.The MOD Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Action Plan 2019-2022 was published in March 2019 and this sets out the actions we are taking in more detail. It is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mod-small-and-medium-sized-enterprise-action-plan-2019-2022

Army: Discharges

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the employment destinations of junior soldiers who leave the Army before completing their phase two training are.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The employment destination of those leaving the Army during training is not held by the Department.

Army: Recruitment

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Army policy on admitting new recruits with a history of ADHD is; and whether Medical Officers have discretion on that matter.

Mark Lancaster: Medical entry standards are set for the three Services by the Joint Medical Group and are regularly reviewed by occupational physicians from all three Services.They are contained within the Joint Service Manual of Medical Fitness, to which I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 June 2019, to Question 257486 to the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb), which placed a copy of this in the Library of the House.Recruiting Group and Military clinicians are empowered to use their clinical judgement, in accordance with policy and based on the available evidence.



Armed Forces Recruitment
(Word Document, 28.07 KB)

Army: Care Leavers

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of (a) new Army recruits and (b) recruits leaving the Army before completing Phase 2 training were subject to a care order in each of the last three financial years.

Mark Lancaster: The number of new Army recruits subject to a care order in financial year 2018-19 was 22. Information is not held centrally for the previous years as this preceded the new Defence Recruiting System.Once recruits have joined the Army, information on those subject to care orders is retained at a local level to ensure and appropriate duty of care is discharged by the chain of command and unit welfare office. It is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

VJ Day: Anniversaries

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans the Government has made to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day in 2020.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 June 2019 to Question 259289 to the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire).



VJ Day: Anniversaries
(Word Document, 30.55 KB)

Astute Class Submarines

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons there have been delays in the Astute Programme; and if she will make a statement.

Stuart Andrew: Designing and building submarines is one of the most complex activities that the Ministry of Defence and UK Industry undertakes. Historically the Astute Programme has suffered delays, as documented by the National Audit Office. Delays to the programme are predominantly due to the fact that BAE Systems and its supply chain had to re-establish the UK's nuclear submarine design, build, testing and commissioning capability following the ten-year gap after the delivery of the last Vanguard Class submarines, as well as addressing some unique technical challenges.

Department for Work and Pensions

Television: Licensing

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency, (b) Lancaster local authority area and (c) Wyre local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.

Guy Opperman: In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September. Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) 2017-18(a) Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency£0.90(b) Lancaster local authority area£1.53(c) Wyre local authority area£1.66

Television: Licensing

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Luton North constituency, and (b) Luton local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.

Guy Opperman: In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September. Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) 2017-18(a) Luton North constituency£0.90(b) Luton local authority area£1.55

Television: Licensing

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency, (b) Gwynedd local authority area and (c) Wales in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.

Guy Opperman: In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September. Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) 2017-18(a) Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency£0.85(b) Gwynedd local authority area£1.41(c) Wales£34.11

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2016-17.

Alok Sharma: In 2016/17 there were less than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment and less than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments.The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored. *The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this has been listed as “less than 5”.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on a universal credit claimant’s health and well-being of the ability to repay hardship payments.

Alok Sharma: Hardship payments are available as a safeguard if a claimant demonstrates that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of a benefit sanction. Work Coaches ensure they consider the claimant’s circumstances, including issues relating to their health and well-being, at the point of the new claim to Universal Credit, to tailor the service accordingly. This also includes when claimants are repaying any hardship payments.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the letter of 26 April 2019 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference DL3281.

Will Quince: I replied to the hon. Member on 25 June 2019.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2019 to Question 264333, how many and what proportion of individual claims for universal credit were not paid (a) on time and (b) in full in each for the last six months for which information is available.

Alok Sharma: The Department intends to publish this data at household level in the near future as part of Official Statistics.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2019 to Question 264335, how many of the 77,952 calculations that were disputed by claimants related to late reporting of wages by employers to HMRC.

Alok Sharma: During the period 17 June 2018 to 16 June 2019 there were 77,952 RTI calculations disputed by claimants, of which around a fifth were upheld. 42,715 (55%) were as a result of late RTI data from employers. The Department continues to work with HMRC to reduce the impact of late RTI on Universal Credit payments. We monitor RTI data, and where expected earnings are not reported, HMRC will contact the employer to investigate, with the intention of all earnings being reported before the end date of a claimant’s Universal Credit Assessment Period.

Job Seekers Allowance and Universal Credit: Habitual Residence Test

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of applications for (a) universal credit and (b) job seekers allowance were rejected on the Habitual Residency Test in each of the last five years.

Alok Sharma: Long-standing policy has always been eligibility for income-related (means-tested) social security benefits depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. Claimants must be exercising a legal right to reside and be habitually resident before they are eligible to claim income related benefit. This is assessed through the Habitual Residence Test (HRT), which has been in place since 1994.Information on the number of JSA claims which failed the Habitual Residence Test are available in “Analysis of Migrants’ Access to Income-Related Benefits” Information on Universal Credit contracts which have a recorded failed Habitual Residence Test are as follows: 2016/2017 – 800 failed claims, 2017/2018 – 7,600 failed claims and 2018/2019 – 30,700 failed claims, this reflects the increasing caseload on UC since it’s rollout. UC data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution. UC cases may be closed for other reasons (for example, “ineligible”) but may have failed the HRT – these are not captured in the estimates above. Information for JSA claims from 2017/18 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. No data was recorded on UC data for HRTs prior to 2016/17

Universal Credit

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the date of a universal credit claim is protected in the contract Citizen's Advice have with her Department to support such claims.

Alok Sharma: The Help To Claim support is not a contract arrangement with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. They are funded by a grant agreement to deliver the Help To Claim service that runs alongside the national Jobcentre offer, and provides additional and alternative support for claimants who need help making their first claim. This personalised support helps to ensure that there is no need for a claimant to have their claim backdated to the point of contact. Instead, through either Citizens Advice or DWP, claimants are able to access immediate support to make their claim in a timely manner. There are some specific, designated circumstances in which the Department has the ability to backdate a claim, for example if someone is taken ill. However, there is not a legal basis whereby a third party, including Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland, can ‘protect the date of claim’ for Universal Credit claimants based on first contact. A Universal Credit claim begins when a completed claim is submitted.

Universal Credit: Glasgow

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been sanctioned in universal credit at (a) Shettleston and (b) Laurieston Jobcentres in each of the last 12 months; and for what reasons.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit sanctions statistics by Jobcentre Plus Office and referral reasons are published and can be found at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance for users is available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases, and that is only when people fail to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. A Decision Maker will take into account all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or caring responsibilities and any evidence of good reason they have provided, before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.

Universal Credit

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will be moved on to universal credit through natural migration in 2019.

Alok Sharma: The Department currently estimates that there will be approximately 600,000 households who will have moved to Universal Credit due to a change of circumstance in 2019: as with all our estimates we keep this under review.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Child Maintenance Group has not used its powers to make an administrative liability order without the permission of a court; and if this will be considered.

Will Quince: The current process of applying for liability orders through the courts provides the right balance of operational efficiency and appropriate oversight. There are no plans to change this process at this time.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money has been spent from the public purse on lodging liability orders through courts by (a) the Child Maintenance Service and (b) the Child Support Agency.

Will Quince: The information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Child Maintenance Group has not used its powers to require a non-resident parent in arrears to make penalty payments to the Secretary of State; and if he will make a statement.

Will Quince: The power to impose penalty payments under the Child Support Agency scheme has been superseded by the new fee structure that the Child Maintenance Service now operates as an incentive for non-resident parents to comply. The Service charges a 20 per cent collection fee to non-resident parents who use Collect & Pay, because they are unlikely to keep up with regular maintenance payments through the Direct Pay service or a private family arrangement. Where arrears accrue and enforcement action is required the Service will add charges of £50 to £300 to the maintenance debt, depending on the type of action being taken.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the Child Maintenance Group has registered the maintenance debt of a non-resident parent with credit rating agencies for each year for which information is available.

Will Quince: The information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 Jun 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how much debt remains outstanding for each benefit in the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments category.

Alok Sharma: The table below shows the outstanding debt balances for the 749k Debtors with recovery from UC for non-UC debts.*Benefit Current Debt BalanceAttendance Allowance£0.022mAdministrative Penalty£0.011mBereavement Allowance£0.038mBereavement Benefit£0.001mBereavement Support Payment£0.005mCarer’s Allowance£18.290mCivil Penalties£0.099mDisability Living Allowance£6.934mDisability Working Allowance£0.004mEmployment and Support Allowance£39.226mFamily Credit£0.097mHousing Benefit£94.378mIncapacity Benefit£6.371mIndustrial Injuries Disablement Benefit£0.027mIncome Support£120.712mInvalidity Benefit£0.080mJob Seekers Allowance£22.745mMaternity Allowance£0.096mPension Credit£0.568mPersonal Independence Payments£1.262mReduced Earnings Allowance£0.006mRetirement Pension£0.126mSickness Benefit£0.002mSevere Disablement Allowance£0.259mSocial Fund Loans£73.925mSocial Fund Overpayments£0.619mNon UC Short Term Advances£0.293mSupplementary Benefit£0.113mTax Credit Overpayment£635.113mUnemployment Benefit£0.020mWidows Benefit£0.045mWidowed Mother Allowance£0.418mWidows Pension£0.125mWidowed Parent’s Allowance£1.491m The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.It is not intended that the recovery of an overpayment should cause any claimant undue financial hardship.*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how many claimants are repaying debts in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.

Alok Sharma: As at 24 June 2019, 593k of the 749k debtors are currently repaying debts*. DWP is unable to break this down by benefit. The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time. Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments. *The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, what is the (a) mean and (b) median average debt owed by claimants in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.

Alok Sharma: Of the 749k debtors that made a payment in 2018/19, the Mean current balance per debtor is £1,740.68 and the Median current balance per debtor is £757.20.* DWP is unable to break this down by benefit. The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animals: Exports

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to improve animal welfare standards for live exports.

David Rutley: The Government’s manifesto made it clear that we would take early steps to control the export of live farm animals for slaughter once we leave the EU.Last year we launched a call for evidence on controlling live exports for slaughter and improving the welfare of all animals during transport. We passed this evidence to the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC), who recently submitted their advice to the Government and the devolved administrations. We are considering FAWC’s report and aim to publish it, along with a Government response, in the summer.

Dangerous Dogs

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, what discussions he has had with animal welfare organisations on changing the law to allow rehoming organisations to rehome well-behaved and suitably assessed section 1 dogs.

David Rutley: Whilst there are no plans to change the law on dangerous dogs, Defra has discussed the interpretation of the existing law on dangerous dogs with stakeholders. Recent case law (Webb v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary (Secretary of State for Food Environment and Rural Affairs intervening) [2017] EWHC 3311 (Admin)) confirmed that the Court may award possession of a prohibited dog to the owner of the dog or to a person who has been “for the time being in charge” of the dog.

Agriculture: Weedkillers

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing more support for farmers to control weeds without using synthetic herbicides.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Effective weed control is key to successful crop production and grassland management. Herbicides are one means of controlling weeds but there are a number of other tools including variety selection, crop rotation and cultivation techniques. Regulation of herbicides is rigorous and they are not authorised for use if they may harm health or risk unacceptable impacts on the environment. The 25 Year Environment Plan states the Government’s intention to put Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at the heart of its approach. IPM aims to design farming systems so as to minimise the need for pesticides, including herbicides, and to make the greatest possible use of alternative approaches. We will develop and implement policies that encourage and support this approach, building on existing work to research and promote new techniques and products that provide alternatives to chemical pesticides. Where these practices are shown to deliver environmental outcomes, farmers who adopt them will be well placed to benefit from a future Environmental Land Management system.

Animal Welfare: Sentencing

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to increase the maximum penalty for the most serious offences of animal cruelty to five years.

David Rutley: I am pleased to say that the legislation needed to implement the increase in the maximum penalty for animal cruelty offences - the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill – had its First Reading in this House on 26 June.

Tree Planting: Yorkshire and the Humber

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted between Leeds and Hull in the last five years.

David Rutley: Neither Defra nor the Forestry Commission record tree planting data except for trees planted in England with central Government support. The table below contains a breakdown of the planting of new trees supported by the Rural Development Programme for England, and other forms of Government support, in Local Authority areas between Leeds and Hull, for the five years 2014-15 to 2018-19. Administrative area  from west to eastApproximate number of trees: newly plantedEquivalent number of hectares: newly plantedLeeds3,2001.6Wakefield1,3000.3Selby11,6007.2York Unitary Area2,8003.6East Riding of Yorkshire Unitary Area28,90019.1City of Kingston upon Hull3,5001.8Total for these six administrative areas51,30033.6

Home Office

Immigration

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many requests for a change of conditions of leave granted on the basis of family or private life were (a) received, (b) granted, (c) refused and (d) awaiting a decision from August 2017 to August 2018.

Caroline Nokes: Answering this question would require manual inspection of all family and private life leave to remain applications within the date range. This would incur disproportionate cost to the public purse.  The available information relates to grants and refusals of in-country leave to remain, based on family life, or private life, which is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Extensions table ex_01_q, latest edition athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/list-of-tables#extensions

Visas: Scotland

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, where the assisted digital locations in Scotland will be; and what type of visa applicants will be able to use that service.

Caroline Nokes: Since September 2017, UK Visas & Immigration has offered customers across the UK a free ‘Assisted Digital’ service. The service is designed to help people who need to use UK Visas & Immigration online services but don’t have the appropriate access, skills or confidence to do so on their own. Support can be provided over the phone, at a local centre or in home with a trained tutor.As of the 20th June, across the UK, there are over 300 centres across the UK supplemented by a network of over 60 tutors. In Scotland, there are 2 tutors offering in home support and 43 centres offering face to face support.Customers should contact the Assisted Digital helpline on 03333 445 675 or by texting the word “VISA” to 07537 416 944 and they will be able to advise on the closest support centre. The Assisted Digital service is available to all UKVI customers except for those applying through the following immigration routes, as support should be provided to them by their sponsoring employers or colleges• Tier 1 (including entrepreneur and exceptional talent)• Tier 2 (people working for a specific employer in the UK)• Tier 4 (students in the UK)In January 2019 the service was extended to support EU citizens and their family members applying for the EU Settlement Scheme.

Passports: Applications

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many first-time passport applications his Department has received since 23 June 2016.

Caroline Nokes: The number of applications for a first British passport received between 23 June 2016 and 31 March 2019 was 3,267,038.Passport intake data is reported within Home Office transparency data. The information is therefore provided up to the most recent date published (31 March 2019).

Offenders: Deportation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders are awaiting deportation from the UK by (a) nationality and (b) type of offence.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not routinely comment on the nationalities of Foreign National Offenders (FNO).Providing the information requested on the type of offence would require a manual check of individual records which could only be done at disproportionate cost.The Home Office do however publish quarterly statistics on the numbers of FNOs who have completed their custodial sentence and are being pursued for removal from the UK. This data can be found by accessing the following:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-may-2019

Police: First Aid

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of occasions police officers have provided first aid when responding to a violent incident.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

Police: Mental Health Services

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mental health support his Department provides to police officers who have responded to a violent incident.

Mr Nick Hurd: Each Chief Constable has a duty to manage and support their workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff.The Government takes the issue of police welfare very seriously and has invested in programmes which offer help directly to officers and staff. In July 2017 the Home Office awarded £7.5 million from the Police Transformation Fund to the College of Policing over three years to pilot and, if these pilots were successful, roll out a dedicated national service to help provide enhanced welfare support to serving police officers and staff.Following two years of development and piloting, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) was launched in April 2019. The NPWS has developed evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources which can be accessed by forces, as well as individual officers and staff.The NPWS will help forces to improve the mental health support they provide to their officers and staff, including following violent incidents.

Police: Sick Leave

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have (a) taken time off work and (b) accessed mental health support after responding to a violent incident in the last two years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally.The Home Office collects information on the number of police officers on sick absence as at 31st March each year.However, these data do not include the reason for the sickness absence therefore it is not possible from data held centrally to identify those on sick absence after responding to a violent incidentInformation on sickness absence data are published in the annual ‘Police work-force’ statistical bulletin, available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-walesThe Home Office does not hold information on the number of police officers who have accessed mental health support.

Offences against Children

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) males and (b) females were (i) charged and (ii) convicted of child sexual abuse offences in each of the last five years in England and Wales.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects and holds data on the number of notifiable offences rec-orded by the police in England and Wales that result in a charge. However, from data held centrally, it is not possible to identify the number and personal character-istics of individuals charged or convicted. Information on police recorded crime outcomes is routinely published and can be found here:www.gov.uk/government/collections/crime-outcomes-in-england-and-wales-statistics

Reoffenders

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to fund the Metropolitan Police Service's intervention programme Divert after 2020.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office will be providing funding for DIVERT from the Early Intervention Youth Fund from November 2018 to March 2020. Funding for projects aimed at early intervention and prevention will be considered as part of our spending review plans.There will also be opportunities for those seeking to deliver interventions to steer children and young people away from serious violence to apply for funding from the Youth Endowment Fund. Operating over ten years, the £200m Fund will work with charities, statutory services, communities, young people and others to develop and fund the most promising interventions. Further information about the Fund’s activities and funding criteria can be found here: https://impetus.org.uk/youth-endowment-fund.

Slavery: Victim Support Schemes

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of people entering the national referral mechanism in England that require translation support in the last 12 months.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people entering the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are offered English language learning as part of their package of move-on support; and whether that support is provided by (a) the NRM or (b) charities providing shelter to survivors.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people that re-enter the National Referral Mechanism having been re-trafficked cannot communicate in English.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the ability of survivors of trafficking who enter the National Referral Mechanism with little or no English language proficiency to learn sufficient English in 45 days to be able to access work in the UK.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the six local authorities where National Referral Mechanism pilots are taking place are offering access to (a) English-language learning and (b) provision with specialist, non-statutory services.

Victoria Atkins: This Government is committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery and ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives.We recognise that language skills can increase an individual’s resilience to exploitation. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is our system for identifying and providing access to support for suspected victims. This support is provided through a Government-funded support service, the Victim Care Contract (VCC), delivered by The Salvation Army and their 12 subcontractors. The VCC provides a package of support to victims of modern slavery including, but not limited to, accommodation if needed, financial support, interpretation services if needed and access to a support worker.The Home Office does not hold information on the number of people entering the NRM that have required translation support in the last 12 months. The VCC does not include the provision of English courses, however potential victims are supported to access language classes by their support worker as appropriate.

Visas: Ministers of Religion

Mhairi Black: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions his Department has had with (a) representatives of the Scottish Government, (b) Scottish local authorities (c) the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (d) other Scottish local authority organisations, (e) Scottish Clergy and (f) other religious organisations in advance of the implementation of changes to the Immigration Rules in relation to  Tier (i) 2 and (ii) 5 religious workers visas.

Caroline Nokes: The Government values the contributions made by religious institutions, to communities across the UK and my officials remain in regular contact with representatives from a range of faith and community groups. I recognise the importance of hearing directly from religious leaders to ensure that the immigration system works for all. Therefore, I am hosting a meeting next month with representatives of a broad-range of faith communities to provide an opportunity to listen to their concerns and share ideas on the future system.

Counter-terrorism

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people referred to the Prevent programme in 2017-18 were (a) male and (b) female.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people referred to the Prevent programme during 2017-18 were (a) foreign nationals, (b) Islamist and (c) right wing extremists.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department uses to measure the outcomes of referrals to the Prevent programme.

Mr Ben Wallace: Since 2012, over 1,300 people have been supported through the Channel programme, which is part of the Prevent Strategy. Channel exists to provide confidential and voluntary support to people who are vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Many types of support are available, addressing educational, vocational, mental health, and other vulnerabilities. Ideological mentoring is commonIn 2017/18 there were 7,318 individuals referred to Prevent. Of these, 6,356 (87%) were male, and 947 were female (13%). Of all those referred, 3,197 (44%) were referred for concerns related to Islamist extremism, and 1,312 (18%) were referred for concerns related to right wing extremism.We do not routinely collect data on the nationality of those referred to Prevent. A Channel panel will, on a monthly basis, monitor the progress of an individual in receipt of Channel support. When the panel decides that a person has no further terrorism-related concerns they will leave the Channel programme. Of those who were provided with support through Channel in 2017/18, 84% left the programme with no further terrorism-related concerns. Support to address particular non-radicalisation related concerns could continue in some cases and would be managed outside of the Channel programmePeople in receipt of support from the Channel programme but who drop out may be offered alternative forms of support by the local authority or other providers. In these circumstances, any risk of terrorism that they might present will be managed by the police.

Crime Prevention: Young People

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to increase support for early intervention to reduce the number of young people requiring secure settings.

Victoria Atkins: Our Serious Violence Strategy published in April last year placed a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention. We support a range of initiatives aimed at reducing the vulnerability of young people and support schemes such as DIVERT which operates in London and seeks to prevent young people becoming involved in the criminal justice system.Through our Strategy we are investing over £220m in early intervention schemes through our Early Intervention Youth Fund and the Youth Endowment Fund which will provide support for young people at risk of involvement in violence and crime.

Fires: Housing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many fires have occurred in new build houses in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this information.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to increase the rate of stop and search policing in response to the increase in acid attacks.

Mr Nick Hurd: Stop and search is a vital policing tool when used correctly and officers have the Government's full support to use these powers in a way that is fair, lawful and effective.The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 created a new offence of possessing a corrosive substance in a public place. The Act also created a complementary stop and search power to ensure officers are able to enforce this new offence and tackle these devastating crimes effectively.The Act received Royal Assent on 16 May and we are working to the bring this new power into force by the Autumn.We are also supporting police with additional funding. On 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £100 million fund to tackle serious violence. £63.4 million of this funding has already been allocated to 18 police forces worst affected by serious violence to support surge operational activity, such as increased patrols.

Police: Biometrics

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the facial recognition technology being trialled by the police.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government supports the police in trialling this technology, which has the potential to improve public safety. Cardiff University published their independent review of South Wales Police’s trials in November 2018, and the University of Essex is due to publish its review of the Metropolitan Police Service trials shortly. Possible matches produced by these systems are always checked by a human operator before deciding what, if any, action to take.

Human Trafficking

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department continues to pursue deportation proceedings in cases in which people have been found to have been trafficked under section 22 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.

Caroline Nokes: Victims of trafficking and modern slavery who have committed crimes either in the UK or overseas are not exempt from a deportation assessment. As with the operation of the defence for slavery and trafficking victims in relation to certain offences (section 22 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Crim-inal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015), an assessment is made, on a case-by-case basis, of the relationship between the crime committed and the circumstances of their trafficking or enslavement.Under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, a potential victim of trafficking cannot be removed or deported either during the reflection and recovery period or until a Conclusive Grounds decision has been made. At the end of the 45-day period, which is the minimum recovery and reflection period in Northern Ireland, considera-tion will be given to whether their deportation is appropriate under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Immigration Act 1971 or the EEA Regulations 2016.

Visas: Overseas Students

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether out-of-country appeals are appropriate for students to challenge visa revocations as a result of allegations of cheating in the TOEIC English language test.

Caroline Nokes: In 2017, the Court of Appeal in the case of Ahsan found that an out of country appeal was not effective where the person was refused on the basis of alleged cheating in a TOEIC English language test, because there was no mechanism to give oral evidence in place at that time.There is a small cohort of people who did leave the UK and have lodged an appeal from overseas and we have been working with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure that they can have an effective appeal, including providing video links where appropriate. These appellants can apply to the tribunal hearing their case to indicate if they want to give live evidence. It is then for the tribunal to decide whether the arrangements the Home Office is able to put in place are sufficient or whether it is necessary for the individu-al to return to the UK for their appeal. There have been a number of hear-ings held abroad using video link and the courts have found that this enabled the appellant to give evidence effectively.Following the changes to the appeals system made in the Immigration Act 2014, appeals can only be brought where claims raising asylum, humanitarian protection or human rights claims are refused; where protection status is revoked; in EEA cases and for deprivation of citizenship. Some of those refused on the basis of alleged cheating have made human rights claims and will have an in country right of appeal if refused (unless the claim is clearly unfounded).

Prostitution

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timeframe is for his receiving a report from the University of Bristol on prostitution in the UK.

Victoria Atkins: As part of the Government’s response to the Home Affairs Select Committee report into prostitution, the Home Office provided £150,000 to fund research specifically into the nature and prevalence of prostitution in England and Wales. This independent research is being led by the University of Bristol and will enable us to inform an objective evidence base before we consider any changes to policy and legislation in respect of prostitution.We have now received the report, and this will be published in due course.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, May 2019: Experimental Statistics, how any applications have been received from the West Midlands.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, May 2019: Experimental Statistics, page 4, if he will provide a breakdown of the proportion of applicants by nationality.

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the May EU Settlement Scheme, May 2019: Experimental Statistics, how many of the pre-settled status application conclusions were due to the applicant not having five years’ continuous residence.

Caroline Nokes: The second official statistics – ‘EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, May 2019’ – on the operation of the scheme were published on 20 June 2019, including applications received by nationality. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics-may-2019The Home Office is committed to publishing more detailed quarterly statistics on the EU Settlement Scheme, alongside our Immigration Statistics, from August 2019. Home Office statisticians and officials are currently considering the content and will take into account the views of statistics users.Under the current online application process for the scheme, those applicants granted pre-settled status will have agreed that they have been continuously resident in the UK for less than five years.

Asylum: Children

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for asylum in the UK were made by unaccompanied minors that arrived in the UK by their own means since 2016.

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that unaccompanied children in other EU Member States with family in the UK are informed for their rights to apply for family reunification under EU Regulation 604/2013.

Caroline Nokes: There were 9,512 applications for asylum made by unaccompanied children in the UK from 1 January 2016 to 31 March 2019. This information is pub-lished by the Home Office in its quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The latest edition can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803159/asylum3-mar-2019-tables.ods. The exact method of entry for asylum applicants is not recorded in published statistics as it would require an examination of each individual case, which could only be carried out at disproportionate costs.The UK recognises its humanitarian responsibilities towards unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. The Government is fully committed to the timely and efficient operation of the Dublin III Regulation including the provisions determining responsibility for examining the claims of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The Regulation provides that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are given information on the Dublin procedure by the State in which the child has lodged his or her application, the State in which they are present.The Commission’s Regulation implementing Dublin III contains a specific leaflet with information for unaccompanied children pursuant to Article 4 of the Dublin III Regulation EU 604/2013, including that the authorities where the application has been lodged should be told as soon as possible if the child thinks they have family in another Dublin State.As part of the Sandhurst Treaty, signed by the UK and France in January 2018, we have allocated £3.6 million to fund the development of the Dublin process to support transfers of eligible children to the UK (including training for those working with unaccompanied children, family tracing and targeted information campaigns). We are also funding access to the French asylum accommodation service, the provision of health services, psychological and legal support as well as the cost of transporting asylum seekers from reception centres to locations where their asylum claims are considered.

Police

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many serious crime detectives were employed by each territorial police force in 2010; and what estimate he has made of the number of serious crime detectives that are employed by each territorial police force in 2019.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold information on the number of serious crime detectives centrally.The Home Office collects and publishes information on the primary roles performed by officers in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area, in the annual 'Police workforce, England and Wales' statistical bulletin, the latest of which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2017However, these data relate to all officers and detectives cannot be separately identified from other officers. Furthermore, data for years prior to 2015 were collected under a different framework and are therefore not comparable to more recent years.The latest available data, which covers the situation as at 31 March 2018, can be found in Table F1 of the data tables accompanying the main release. Police workers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function, for example ‘Serious & Organised Crime Units’. Figures are presented on a full-time equivalent basis.The next available data, covering the picture as at 31 March 2019, is sched-uled for publication on 18 July, and will be available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Social Media

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much money his Department has spent on social media advertising in each month since February 2019.

David Mundell: The figures requested are as follows:February 2019March 2019April 2019May 2019£ 12,973.86£ 10,728.55Nil£ 1,540.51

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: Food Banks

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of Government Departments that plan to set up foodbanks in their offices.

Oliver Dowden: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 17 June 2019.The correct answer should have been:

We are not aware that any department has plans to open a foodbank.The Government is committed to ensuring our democracy is robust, trusted and open so all those who are eligible can participate with confidence. We have convened partners in local authorities and homeless charities to codesign and test ideas to address barriers to electoral registration for the homeless. These will be made available shortly on Gov.uk.

Kevin Foster: We are not aware that any department has plans to open a foodbank.The Government is committed to ensuring our democracy is robust, trusted and open so all those who are eligible can participate with confidence. We have convened partners in local authorities and homeless charities to codesign and test ideas to address barriers to electoral registration for the homeless. These will be made available shortly on Gov.uk.

Antisocial Behaviour: North West

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many reports of anti-social behaviour have been recorded in (a) Cumbria Constabulary, (b) Lancashire Constabulary and (c) Merseyside Constabulary in the last five years.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 98.38 KB)

Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) meetings, (b) correspondence and (c) other communication occurred between former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Baron Saville of Newdigate (i) before, (ii) during and (iii) after the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday.

Mr David Lidington: Information about correspondence and other communication between Mr Blair (as Prime Minister) and Lord Saville (as Head of the Inquiry) is not readily available. The information is contained in paper records of the Inquiry for a 12-year period and records of the Prime Minister's Office covering a 10-year period. For this reason an answer could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Interserve

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Interserve has cancelled any public sector contracts since January 2019.

Oliver Dowden: We are not aware of Interserve cancelling any public sector contracts.

Kier Group

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he (a) has carried out or (b) plans to carry out under section 40 of the Small Business and Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 an investigation into the promptness of payment by Kier of the subcontractors in its public sector supply chain.

Oliver Dowden: Section 40 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires certain public sector contracting authorities to give reasonable assistance to investigations by the Cabinet Office’s Public Procurement Review Service. The Public Procurement Review Service investigates concerns raised by suppliers about public procurement practice, including late payment. It has not carried out and has no plans to carry out an investigation into the promptness of payment by Kier.

Interserve

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he (a) has carried out or (b) plans to carry out under section 40 of the Small Business and Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 an investigation into the promptness of payment by Interserve of the subcontractors in its public sector supply chain.

Oliver Dowden: Section 40 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires certain public sector contracting authorities to give reasonable assistance to investigations by the Cabinet Office’s Public Procurement Review Service. The Public Procurement Review Service investigates concerns raised by suppliers about public procurement practice, including late payment. It has not carried out and has no plans to carry out an investigation into the promptness of payment by Interserve.

Cabinet Office: Amazon

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings each Minister in his Department has had with Amazon Web Services in each month in the last two years.

Oliver Dowden: Details of external meetings by Ministers are published quarterly and are available on GOV.UK.

Cabinet Office: Amazon

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) the purpose was of and (b) matters were discussed at the lunch meeting between Amazon Web Services and the Minister for Implementation held on 12 February 2019.

Oliver Dowden: The event on 12 February 2019 was a roundtable discussion, jointly hosted by the Spectator and Amazon Web Services. The purpose of the event was to have a broad discussion on digital transformation in government and the role of the private sector in supporting this. It was attended by stakeholders from industry, the media and the public sector. Ministers regularly meet with external stakeholders in a range of forums as part of their normal duties.

Prisoners: Voting Rights

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has plans to give prisoners in England the right to vote.

Kevin Foster: It is the Government’s long-established position that when someone commits a crime, which is sufficiently serious to receive a prison sentence, they are deemed to have broken their contract with society to such an extent that they should not have the right to vote until they are ready to be back in the community.

Cabinet Office: Public Appointments

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 266866 on Cabinet Office: Public Appointments, for what reason that Answer does include information on plans to appoint a Chief Data Officer.

Oliver Dowden: I refer the Honourable Member to my answer given to Question 255390 on 21 May 2019.

Homelessness: Death

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the 10 local authorities with the greatest number of recorded homeless deaths since 2010.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 82.05 KB)

European Parliament: Elections

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has received legal advice on its recent performance of its obligations under Article 20(2)(b) TFEU to guarantee EU citizens resident in the UK the right to vote and to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament under the same conditions as UK nationals.

Kevin Foster: The Government took all the legal steps necessary to prepare for the European Parliamentaryelections and put in place all the legislative and funding elements to enable Returning Officers tomake their preparations required for the polls on 23 May.The necessity for EU citizens to complete a UC1 form to be able to vote in European Parliamentaryelections implements a requirement under EU law. This is not a new requirement and has been inplace for previous European Parliamentary elections. Similar provisions apply to UK citizens livingin other EU Member StatesAs with any election we will reflect on proceedings and outcomes. In line with their statutory duty,the Electoral Commission will be publishing a report into the administration of the polls later thisyear, which the Government will consider in due course.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: Syria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress he has made in carrying over the existing EU trade agreement with Syria.

George Hollingbery: Since 2012, the UK Government has suspended any engagement with the Syrian regime and closed the British Embassy in Damascus. Additionally, the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement is currently suspended, including the chapters on trade in crude oil, petroleum products, gold, precious metals and diamonds. The Department for International Trade has no plans to transition this agreement over at this time.

Trade Agreements: United Arab Emirates

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress he has made on a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates.

George Hollingbery: Formal negotiations on free trade deals cannot begin until after the UK leaves the EU. The UK’s engagement on the future trading relationship with the United Arab Emirates is being conducted through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The greatest progress in UK-GCC trade liberalisation is likely to come from adopting an “agile” approach to trade policy, in the short-term. This will include exploring non-tariff measures, such as regulatory barriers to market access, that could help facilitate free-flowing trade. We have started to discuss this approach with the GCC.

Arms Trade: Export Controls

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the (a) legal and (b) regulatory framework for UK arms exports.

Graham Stuart: The UK’s regulatory framework for export controls is set out in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which provide a thorough risk assessment process for reaching licensing decisions. The Court of Appeal judgment of 20 June does not undermine the UK’s overall framework for export controls as set out in the Consolidated Criteria. These Criteria have stood the test of time and are shared by EU Member States. The Court’s judgment is about how decisions were made in relation to one element of one of those Criteria in a specific context.

Standard Individual Export Licences: Saudi Arabia

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many Single Individual Export Licences where the end-user is Saudi Arabia remain extant.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications for export licences for Saudi Arabia were under consideration on 20 June 2019.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will publish all extant Open Individual Export Licences for which the end-user is Saudi Arabia stating in each case the (a) name of the Licensee, (b) goods annual report summary, (c) goods rating, (d) weapons type, (e) date on which the licence was granted and (f) length of time the licence has been granted for.

Graham Stuart: There are 295 extant Standard Individual Export Licences, where the end user is Saudi Arabia. There were 57 applications for export licences under consideration on 20 June 2019. Details of Open Individual Export Licences (OIEL) that were extant as at 24 June (9am) and these licences were granted prior to 31 December 2018, will be placed in the libraries of the House. Any licences granted from 1 January 2019 onwards have not, as yet, been published as official statistics on GOV.UK and therefore information about those licences cannot be disclosed.The data currently published on GOV.UK covers licences where a decision was made prior to 1 January 2019, with details of each licence correct as at 15 March 2019. Information from the period 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019 will be published on 16 July 2019 and data covering the period 1 April 2019 to 30 June 2019 will be published in October 2019. OIELs are generally valid for up to 5 years from the date of issue. However, OIELs covering the export to EU Member States of goods entered on the Military List are generally valid for up to 3 years. Disclosure of the names of those exporters who have been granted Open Individual Export Licences would prejudice their commercial interests and therefore we will not be disclosing this information.

UK Export Finance

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 265577 on UK Export Finance, how many hon. Members attended each of those briefings.

George Hollingbery: While some MPs notify the Department of their intention to attend in advance (for example with dietary requirements), no formal record of attendees is held.

UK Export Finance

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 265577 on UK Export Finance, whether his Department plans to hold further breakfast briefings.

George Hollingbery: The Department for International Trade plans to continue to host Members of Parliament (MPs) Monthly Breakfast Briefings. These are organised once a month with the objective of giving MPs an opportunity to learn more about the work of the Department and how MPs can support trade and investment in their constituency. The briefings are open to all MPs in the House of Commons.

Arms Trade: Bahrain and United Arab Emirates

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the recent Court of Appeal ruling on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and criterion 2c of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria which states that licences should not be granted if there is a clear risk the equipment to be exported might be used in a serious violation of international humanitarian law, if he will suspend arms sales to (a) Bahrain and (b) the United Arab Emirates.

Graham Stuart: The Government is carefully considering the implications of the Court of Appeal judgment of 20 June for decision making under Criterion 2c of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export licensing Criteria. While we do we will not grant any new licences for exports to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners (UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt) for possible use in the conflict in Yemen.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will publish the (a) number, (b) type and (c) item code for (i) all extant licences for military goods to Saudi Arabia and (ii) licences under reviewed as a result of the Court of Appeal Judgment of 20 June 2019; and what the timetable is for the completion of those reviews.

Graham Stuart: Details of military rated licences that were extant as at 24 June (9am) and were granted prior to 31 December 2018 have been placed in the libraries of the House. Information about licences granted from 1 January 2019 onwards has not, as yet, been published as official statistics on GOV.UK and therefore cannot be disclosed at this time.The data currently published on GOV.UK covers licences where a decision was made prior to 1 January 2019, with details of each licence correct as at 15 March 2019. Information from the period 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2019 will be published on 16 July 2019 and data covering the period 1 April 2019 to 30 June 2019 will be published in October 2019. The Government is carefully considering the implications of the Court of Appeal Judgment for decision making. As part of this work we will be determining which licences would need to be reconsidered. At this stage it is uncertain how long this work will take.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to paragraph 141 of the 20 June 2019 Court of Appeal Judgment for what reason the Government stopped considering Saudi Arabia's past violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen in 2016.

Graham Stuart: The Government has always taken into account the past record of Saudi Arabia in respect of international humanitarian law when making export licensing decisions. The Court of Appeal judgment concerns reaching findings on IHL in specific incidents. The Government’s approach has recognised the inherent difficulty of doing so where we do not have access to complete information. We are now considering the implications of the judgment for decision-making.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Abram Games

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will allocate funding to support proposals for a permanent home for the collection of designer, Abram Games.

Margot James: We are not aware of plans to find a permanent home for Abram Games’ collection. The National Army Museum are currently hosting a major exhibition featuring the wartime poster of Abram Games (called The Art of Persuasion), running until 24th November. The exhibition features 49 original artworks from Abram Games that are part of the Museum’s permanent collection and is the majority of his wartime work. Seven of these works are on display in their permanent galleries and all items in the Museum’s Abram Games’ collection is available to access via our Online Collection. Most of the other items in the current exhibition are on loan from the Estate of Abram Games. Other national museums also hold significant collections of his works, including the V&A, and the Imperial War Museum holds the official war artist archives of his work. There is no central fund for museum acquisitions; there are though a number of government-backed initiatives that help museums acquire nationally significant collections. Arts Council England runs, on behalf of DCMS, the Cultural Gift Scheme, through which donors receive a tax reduction based on a set percentage of the value of the item they donate. And the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund supports the purchase of a wide range of material for the permanent collections of non-nationally funded organisations in England and Wales.

5G: Pollinators and Wildlife

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what research his Government has conducted on the potential effect of the roll out of the 5G network on wildlife and pollinators.

Margot James: Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) has the potential to impact the movement of insects and some species of animals, but there is currently no evidence that human-made EMR, at realistic field levels, has population level impacts on (a) plants, (b) animals or (c) insects.

Fairgrounds

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support the fairs and showmen industry.

Margot James: The government strongly believes in the benefits that the arts and creative industries bring to the UK, including the commercial entertainment industry of which fairs and show people are a key part. The cultural and creative industries are some of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy and government is committed to assisting them to continue to grow. Arts Council England also funds a number of local festivals and circus arts, which covers some performing arts organisations as well as individuals who practice circus-related skills. For example, in 2018/19 ACE provided almost £4 million of funding to projects and organisations whose primary sub-discipline was circus related activity.

Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the total cost incurred to the public purse has been of the CyberEssentials programme in each of the last five years.

Margot James: The Cyber Essentials scheme is largely self-sustaining. The small cost to Government is mostly made up from proportions of time from members of staff within the National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This includes governance, technical oversight, policy development and contract management. The financial model for delivery of the Cyber Essentials scheme involves Government overseeing the governance, technical oversight, policy development and contract management of five industry Accreditation Bodies. The Accreditation Bodies are responsible for marketing the scheme along with their Certification Bodies and providing the certificates to those wishing to achieve certification. The Accreditation Bodies and Certification Bodies charge a fee for the issuing of certificates and any related services provided. The original start-up costs included an injection of investment from the Government's National Cyber Security Programme in 2014 and there has been some further investment to uplift the scheme in the last 2 years. For reasons of national security we do not specify individual funding amounts from the current National Cyber Security Programme.

Small Businesses: Internet

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on small businesses using .eu domain names of the UK leaving the EU.

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support available for small businesses using .eu domain names after the UK leaves the EU.

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on small businesses of the potential changes to Google search rankings of those businesses using .eu domain names after the UK leaves the EU.

Margot James: The Prime Minister’s deal which was put forward to Parliament would have allowed UK users of .eu domain names to retain their registration of these domain names throughout the duration of the implementation period.We remain are focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal. As part of our exit negotiations we will be seeking the best possible deal which takes into account the interests of UK citizens and businesses who currently hold .eu domain names, including SMEs. In the scenario of a no deal, where registrants may no longer fulfil the eligibility criteria for a .eu domain name, registrants may incur costs to transfer to a new domain, as well as associated costs such as updating marketing materials. DCMS has published guidance on this issue on gov.uk(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-eu-top-level-domain-name-registrations-in-the-event-of-a-no-deal-eu-exit ) Registrars who sell .eu domain names are responsible for ensuring that their UK registrants of .eu are supported in considering future changes to their .eu domain. DCMS has also sought to raise awareness through UK wide business organisations in 2018/2019, including those that represent small businesses. Businesses may use search optimisation techniques to improve their visibility on search rankings, through the use of domain name level keywords or social media metrics. We understand that Google has extensive site move documentation in their Help Center to assist moving domain names. UK Government has no role in this process, which relates to commercial decisions taken by the company or organisation.

Prime Minister

Germany: Foreign Relations

Ross Thomson: To ask the Prime Minister, what meetings she held with the Chancellor of Germany between 1 and 6 July 2018.

Ross Thomson: To ask the Prime Minister, what records were kept of meetings she held with European heads of state in the 12 months to 6 July 2018.

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Prime Minister, what meetings were held between her and the Chancellor of Germany in the 12 months to 6 July 2018.

Mrs Theresa May: I hold meetings with other leaders regularly in order to further the UK’s foreign policy interests. Information about these meetings is in the public domain and can be found on the gov.uk website and in Hansard.

Women and Equalities

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Dawn Butler: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to implement the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s (CEDAW) conclusions from its recent examination of the UK's 8th CEDAW periodic report.

Victoria Atkins: The UK was examined by the UN CEDAW Committee on 26 February 2019. The UK delegation was able to set out the progress we have made on the implementation of CEDAW and positively engaged with the Committee. On 11 March the Committee published its Concluding Observations and Recommendations. The Government has an ambitious programme of action to tackle gender inequalities – for example in relation to domestic abuse and economic empowerment – and delivering this will support our implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. We plan to publish a roadmap to gender equality later this year which will set out Government plans to address the persistent gendered economic barriers women – and men – are facing across the country, at every stage of their lives. This will help women have financial independence and resilience, as well as real choice and influence over the economic decisions in their lives.

Equality Act 2010

Dame Louise Ellman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2019 to Question 261477 on Equality Act 2010, when she plans to start the consultation with local authorities; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: Question 261477 refers to the commencement of Section 36 of the Equality Act 2010. Some parts of Section 36 of the Equality Act 2010 were commenced following Royal Assent to that Act. In March 2018, the Government announced its intention to commence the remaining parts of Section 36, which will enable disabled tenants to require that landlords and building owners to make reasonable adjustments to the common parts of dwellings, such as entry points, landings and stairs. The Government is already consulting with local authorities to help identify and quantify any additional burdens this may have. A commencement date will be announced in due course.